ScienceDirect® Home Skip Main Navigation Links
You have guest access to ScienceDirect. Find out more.
 
Home
Browse
My Settings
Alerts
Help
 Quick Search
 Search tips (Opens new window)
    Clear all fields    
advertisementadvertisement
Computers & Operations Research
Volume 32, Issue 3, March 2005, Pages 613-628
 
Font Size: Decrease Font Size  Increase Font Size
 Abstract - selected
Article
Purchase PDF (280 K)

 
 
 
Related Articles in ScienceDirect
View More Related Articles
 
Special issue
View Record in Scopus
 
doi:10.1016/j.cor.2003.08.008    How to Cite or Link Using DOI (Opens New Window)
Copyright © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reliable and economic resource allocation in an unreliable flow network

Chung-Chi HsiehCorresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author and Yi-Ting Chen

Department of Industrial and Information Management, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, Tainan 70101, Taiwan, ROC

Available online 3 October 2003.

Purchase the full-text article



References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

Abstract

In this paper a reliable and economic resource allocation strategy under cost constraints is developed for an unreliable multi-source multi-sink flow network. A multi-source multi-sink flow network is composed of nodes, characterized as source nodes, sink nodes and intermediate nodes, as well as directed arcs, joining pairs of nodes. In the presence of unreliable intermediate nodes and arcs, it is important to distribute resources at source nodes in a reliable and cost-effective manner so that resources are more likely to be transmitted successfully to sink nodes through the flow network. By modelling the capacities of intermediate nodes and arcs as statistically independent random variables, an integrated approach is proposed in this study that combines the existing methodologies to determine a reliability-maximizing resource allocation strategy which meets demand at sink nodes and a predetermined transmission cost requirement. Examples of cyclic and acyclic flow networks with unreliable intermediate nodes and arcs are given to illustrate the application of the proposed approach.

Author Keywords: Flow network; Minimal path vectors; Network reliability; Resource allocation

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. Unreliable flow networks
2.1. Model
2.2. Network reliability
3. Resource allocation in a stochastic-flow network with perfect nodes
3.1. Computing resource allocation
3.2. Examples
4. Resource allocation in a stochastic-flow network with unreliable intermediate nodes
4.1. Example
5. Summary
References





 
Home
Browse
My Settings
Alerts
Help
Elsevier.com (Opens new window)
About ScienceDirect  |  Contact Us  |  Information for Advertisers  |  Terms & Conditions  |  Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ScienceDirect® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.