Vehicle routing problem with three-dimensional loading constraints: Experimentations and evaluation

This paper treats the integration of 3D loading constraints in Vehicle Routing Problems (VRP) and highlights its impact on the feasibility of VRP solutions. The Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problems (HFVRP) is the variant of the VRP class problem that is the subject of this study. Its objective is to construct a set of vehicle routes in order to minimize the sum of the costs. A brief overview of the most practical loading constraints is presented as well as our proposed approach to solve the considered problem. Besides, experimentations on some benchmark instances were performed to prove the efficiency of our algorithm, which has led to very good results. Finally, an evaluation is addressed to show the impact of considering 3D loading constraints when solving a vehicle routing problem.