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Benchmarking Dynamic Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Problems Using Discrete-Event Simulation

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Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoApplications 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 9598))

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Abstract

In this paper a framework is developed to generate benchmark problems for dynamic three-dimensional (3D) bin packing problems (BPPs). This framework is able to generate benchmark problems for different variants of BPPs by taking into account potential uncertainty in real-world BPPs, which are uncertainties in dimensions, costs, weights of upcoming items. This paper has three main contributions. First, a benchmark generator framework is developed for the first time using an open source discrete-event simulation platform. This framework generates benchmark problems for BPPs by reproducing uncertainty in real-world BPPs. Second, this framework can be integrated with any dynamic BPP algorithm so that the optimisation algorithm can be run alongside the simulation to solve dynamic BPPs. Third, various performance measures from the literature are included in the framework to evaluate the optimisation algorithms from different perspectives. Thanks to the 3D visualisation feature of this framework, the optimisation results can also be observed visually. Finally, empirical experiments on a real-world BPP are conducted to verify these contributions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The volume utilisation of one bin is the total volume of packed items in this bin divided by the volume of the bin.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a Dean’s scholarship from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Liverpool John Moores University, a British Council UK-ASEAN Knowledge Partnership grant and a British Council Newton Institutional Links grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liverpool Logistics Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM), School of Engineering, Technology and Maritime Operations, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK

    Ran Wang, Trung Thanh Nguyen, Shayan Kavakeb & Zaili Yang

  2. School of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China

    Changhe Li

Authors
  1. Ran Wang
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  2. Trung Thanh Nguyen
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  3. Shayan Kavakeb
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  4. Zaili Yang
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  5. Changhe Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ran Wang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy

    Giovanni Squillero

  2. Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Paolo Burelli

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Wang, R., Nguyen, T.T., Kavakeb, S., Yang, Z., Li, C. (2016). Benchmarking Dynamic Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Problems Using Discrete-Event Simulation. In: Squillero, G., Burelli, P. (eds) Applications of Evolutionary Computation. EvoApplications 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9598. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31153-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31153-1_18

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