BUSED053 – MANAGEMENT SCIENCE CSMJACOB

NETWORK ANALYSIS

Kinds of network problems:

1. Shortest path
2. Minimum spanning tree
3. Maximum flow
4. Minimum cost flow
5. Critical path method (CPM)

Network terminology
Components of a network:
a. Nodes – a set of points representing the start/finish of an activity in a network; also referred to as the
vertices of a network
b. Arcs – arrows representing the activities ; also referred to as links, edges, or branches
Kinds of arcs:
a. Directed – where the flow is only in one direction
b. Undirected – where the flow is allowed in either direction; most commonly referred to as simply links

Directed network – contains only directed arcs

Undirected network – contains only undirected arcs
Path – a sequence of distinct arcs connecting two nodes (no retracing of arcs allowed)
Directed path – a sequence of connecting arcs directed toward an end node, such that there is a feasible flow from the
start node to the end node
Undirected path – a sequence of connecting arcs whose direction can be either toward or away from an end node
Cycle – a path that begins and ends at the same node
Connected nodes – two nodes that contains at least one undirected path between them
Connected network – a network where each node is connected to at least another node
Spanning tree – a connected network for all n nodes that contains no undirected cycles; contains n-1 arcs
Arc capacity – the maximum amount of flow that can be carried on a directed arc
Supply node – a node whose outflow exceeds its inflow; also referred to as source node or source
Demand node – a node whose inflow exceeds its outflow; also referred to as sink node or sink

Shortest Path Problem

- involves finding the shortest path (the path traversing the minimum distance) from the origin node to the
destination node in an undirected and connected network

The shortest path algorithm uses the table with the column headings indicated below:
n Solved Nodes Closest Total nth Minimum Last
Directly Connected Connected Distance Nearest Distance Connection
to Unsolved Nodes Unsolved Node Involved Node
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
where column:
(1) – contains the iteration number
(2) – nearest node to the origin that covers the shortest path for the current iteration
(3) – contains the candidates for the nearest node; each unsolved node that is directly connected to the currently solved
node
(4) – total distance from the origin to the unsolved node
(5) – the node from column (3) that covers the minimum total distance from the origin to itself
(6) – distance from the origin to the node in column (5)
(7) – contains the last link on the shortest path

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Example1: Seervada Park has recently been set aside for a limited amount of sightseeing and backpack hiking. Cars are
not allowed into the park, but there is a narrow, winding road system for trams and for jeeps driven by the park rangers.
The road system, as well as the distances between ranger stations (given in miles), is shown below.

A 7
2 2 T
5 4 5
O B D
D 3
4 1 1 7

C 4 E

The entrance is shown at location O, with location T showing the station where a scenic wonder is located. A small number
of trams are used to transport sightseers from the park entrance to station T and back. The park management currently
faces three problems:
1. To determine which route from the park entrance to station T has the smallest total distance for the tram operation
2. Where the minimum length of telephone lines (in miles) must be laid in order to connect each station to at least one
other in the park (The minimum length of telephone lines ensures the most inexpensive and least disruptive option.)
3. How to route various tram trips to maximize the number of trips that can be made per day without violating limits on
any individual road (The number of tram trips have been limited to different numbers on different roads to avoid unduly
disturbing the ecology and wildlife of the region.)

The first problem above concerns finding the shortest path from node O to node T, and will use the algorithm discussed
previously.
n Solved Nodes Closest Total nth Minimum Last
Directly Connected Connected Distance Nearest Distance Connection
to Unsolved Nodes Unsolved Node Involved Node
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

1
Hillier, F.S., and Lieberman, G.J. Introduction to Operations Research (9th ed).McGraw-Hill. 2010. (page 359)
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Exercises:
1. Use the algorithm discussed to find the shortest path through each of the following networks, where the numbers
represent actual distances between the corresponding nodes.
a.

4 A 7
1 5 D 6
(Origin) 6 (Destination)
O B T
4 1
2 E 8
5
C 5

b.
3 4
A D G 7
4 5 2 2 2 2
(Origin) 6 2 5 8 (Destination)
O C F H T
3 4 5 1 2 3
B E I 4
6 5

2. One of Speedy Airlines’ flights is about to take off from Seattle for a nonstop flight to London. There is some flexibility
in choosing the precise route to be taken, depending upon weather conditions. The following network depicts the possible
routes under consideration, where S and L are Seattle and London, respectively, and the other nodes represent various
intermediate locations.

3.5
A D
3.4 3.4
4.6 3.6
4.7 3.2 3.6
S B E L
3.3
4.2 3.5 3.8
3.4
C F
The winds along each arc greatly affect the flying time (and so the fuel consumption). Based on current meteorological
reports, the flying times (in hours) for this particular flight are shown next to the arcs. Because fuel is so expensive, the
management of Speedy Airlines has established a policy of choosing the route that minimizes the total flight time. Solve
for the shortest path.

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3. At a small but growing airport, the local airline company is purchasing a new tractor for a tractor-trailer train to bring
luggage to and from the airplanes. A new mechanized luggage system will be installed in 3 years, so the tractor will not be
needed after that. However, because it will receive heavy use, so that the running and maintenance costs will increase
rapidly as the tractor ages, it may still be more economical to replace the tractor after 1or 2 years. The following table
gives the total net discounted cost associated with purchasing a tractor (purchase price minus trade–in allowance, plus
running and maintenance costs) at the end of year I and trading it in at the end of year j (where year 0 is now).

j
1 2 3
0 $13,000 $28,000 $48,000
i 1 $17,000 $33,000
2 $20,000

The problem is to determine at what times (if any) the tractor should be replaced to minimize the total cost for the
tractors over 3 years.
a. Formulate the problem as a shortest-path problem.
b. Use the algorithm described previously to solve for the shortest path.

4. You need to take a trip by car to another town that you have never visited before. Therefore, you are studying a map
to determine the shortest route to your destination. Depending on which route you choose, there are five other towns A,
B, C, D, and E) that you might pass through on the way. The map shows the mileage along each road that directly connects
two towns without any intervening towns. These numbers are summarized in the following table, where a dash indicates
that there is no road directly connecting these two towns without going through any other towns.

Miles between adjacent towns

Town A B C D E Destination
Origin 40 60 50 - - -
A 10 - 70 - -
B 20 55 40 -
C - 50 -
D 10 60
E 80

a. Formulate the problem as a shortest-path problem by drawing a network where nodes represent towns, links
represent roads, and numbers indicate the length of each link in miles.
b. Use the shortest-path algorithm described previously to solve the problem.

5. Solve for the shortest path and give the minimum distance from node A to node H in the network below.

24
B F
9 2 6 19
18
G 6
A 14 C 30 E 11
16
H
5
15 20 44

The Minimum Spanning Tree Problem

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 - similar to the shortest-path problem in that it is also involved with finding the shortest total length among
all sets of links in an undirected and connected network
- different from the shortest-path problem in that the chosen links must provide a path between each pair of
nodes (the path must pass through all nodes)

Summary of the minimum spanning tree problem:

1. Nodes are given without the links, with the potential links and lengths between them provided.
2. A network must be designed by inserting enough links to satisfy the definition of a spanning tree.
3. The objective is to create a spanning tree in a way that minimizes the length if the links inserted into the network.

Some applications of the minimum spanning tree problem:

1. Design of telecommunication networks
2. Design of a transportation network to minimize the total cost of providing the links
3. Design of a network of wiring on electrical equipment to minimize the total length of the wire
4. Design of a network of pipelines to connect a number of locations

A spanning tree, as defined, is a connected network for all n nodes that contains no undirected cycles; contains n-1 arcs.
Consider the three figures below, where only figure 3 shows a spanning tree.

A T

Figure 1 Not a spanning tree because not all nodes are

B D
O connected

C E

A T

Figure 2 Not a spanning tree because it contains a cycle

B D
O

C E

A T
2 2 5
4 Figure 3 A spanning tree
B D
O 7

4
C E

Minimum spanning tree algorithm:

1. Select any node arbitrarily, and connect it to the nearest distinct node.

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2. Identify the unconnected node closest to a connected node, and connect these two nodes. Repeat this step until all
nodes have been connected.
3. Tie breaking: Ties for the nearest distinct node (step 1) or the closes unconnected node (step 2) may be broken
arbitrarily, and the algorithm must still yield an optimal solution. However, such ties may signal the presence of multiple
optimal solutions. All such optimal solutions must be identified by pursuing all ways of breaking ties to their conclusion.

Example:
Use the Seervada park problem.

A 7
2 2 T
5 4 5
O B D

4 1 3 1 7

C E
4

Connecting all nodes by the minimum spanning tree algorithm results in the links totaling a distance of _________ miles.

Exercises:
1. Find the minimum spanning tree for each of these networks:
1
a. 7
4
4
1 5 6
6 1
0 2 4 6
2 8
5 5
5
3

b.
3 4
A D G 7
4 5 2 2 2 2
6 2 5 8
O C F H T
3 4 5 1 2 3
B E 4
I
6 5

2. The Wirehouse Lumber Company will soon begin logging eight groves of trees in the same general area. Therefore, it
must develop a system of dirt roads that makes each grove accessible from every other grove. The distance (in miles)
between every pair of groves is as follows:

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 Distance between Pairs of Groves
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - 1.3 2.1 0.9 0.7 1.8 2.0 1.5
2 1.3 - 0.9 1.8 1.2 2.6 2.3 1.1
3 2.1 0.9 - 2.6 1.7 2.5 1.9 1.0
4 0.9 1.8 2.6 - 0.7 1.6 1.5 0.9
Grove
5 0.7 1.2 1.7 0.7 - 0.9 1.2 0.8
6 1.8 2.6 2.5 1.6 0.9 - 0.6 1.0
7 2.0 2.3 1.9 1.5 1.1 0.6 - 0.5
8 1.5 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.5 -
Management now wishes to determine between which pairs of groves the roads should be constructed to connect all
groves with a minimum total length of road. Solve for the minimum total length of the road that will connect all the groves
to each other.

3. The Premiere Bank will soon be hooking up computer terminals at each of its branch offices to the computer at its main
office using special phone lines with telecommunication devices. The phone line from a branch office need not be
connected directly to the main office. It can be connected indirectly by being connected to another branch office that is
connected (directly or indirectly) to the main office. The only requirement is that every branch office be connected by
some route to the main office.
The charge for the special phone lines is $100 per mile of line, where the distance (in miles) between every pair of offices
is as follows:
Distance between Pairs of Offices
Main B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4 B.5
Main office - 190 70 115 270 160
Branch 1 190 - 100 110 215 50
Branch 2 70 100 - 140 120 220
Branch 3 115 110 140 - 175 80
Branch 4 270 215 120 175 - 310
Branch 5 169 50 220 80 310 -

Management wishes to determine which pairs of offices should be directly connected by special phone lines in order to
connect every branch office (directly or indirectly) to the main office at a minimum total cost. Solve the problem using the
minimum spanning tree algorithm and compute the minimum total cost for the project.

The Maximum Flow Problem

Summary of the maximum flow problem:

1. All flows through a directed and connected network originate at the source and terminate at the sink.
2. All the remaining nodes are transshipment nodes.
3. Flow through an arc is allowed only in the direction indicated by the arrowhead, where the maximum flow is given by
the capacity of that arc.
4. The objective is to maximize the total amount of flow from the source to the sink, measured in the amount leaving
the source or the amount entering the sink.

Some applications of the maximum flow problem:

1. Maximize the flow through a company’s distribution network from its factories to its consumers.
2. Maximize the flow through a company’s supply network from its vendors to its factories.
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3. Maximize the flow of oil through a system of pipelines.
4. Maximize the flow of vehicles through a transportation network.

The maximum flow problem can be formulated as an LP problem and solved by the simplex method. However, a more
efficient solution is given by the Augmenting Path Algorithm. The algorithm is based on the concepts of a residual network
and an augmenting path. A residual network is a network showing the residual capacities (or the remaining arc capacities)
for assigning additional flows. An augmenting path is a directed path from the source to the sink in the residual network
such that every arc on this path has strictly positive residual capacity. The minimum of these residual capacities is called
the residual capacity of the augmenting path (representing the amount of flow that can feasibly be added to the entire
path).

The network in Figure 1 shows an arc with a capacity of 7 in either direction. The residual network in Figure 2 results from
a flow of 4 from node A to node B, leaving a residual capacity of 3 for any additional flow assignment through A→B.

7 3 4
A B A B

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Recall the Seervada Park management’s third problem in the previous handout, which was how to route various tram trips
to maximize the number of trips that can be made per day without violating limits on any individual road. To avoid unduly
disturbing the ecology and wildlife of the region, strict upper limits have been imposed on the number of outgoing trips
allowed per day in the outbound direction on each individual road. For each road, the direction of travel for outgoing trips
is indicated by an arrow in the Fig. 3 below. The number at the base of the arrow gives the upper limit on the number of
outgoing trips allowed per day.
A feasible solution:
A O→B→E→T 5 trips
5 3 plus
1 T O→B→C→E→T 1 trip total = 7 trips
O 7 B 4 9 plus
D O→B→C→E→D→T 1 trip
2 5
4 1 6
4
C E
4
Fig. 3 TheSeervada Park maximum flow problem

The Augmenting Path Algorithm (Ford-Fulkerson Method) for a maximum flow problem:
1. Identify an augmenting path by arbitrarily finding some directed path from the source to the sink in the residual network
such that every arc on this path has strictly positive residual capacity. If no augmenting path exists, the net flows already
assigned constitute an optimal flow pattern.
2. Identify the residual capacity c* of this augmenting path by finding the minimum of the residual capacities of the arc on
this path. Increase the flow on this path by c*.
3. Decrease by c* the residual capacity of each arc on this augmenting path. Increase by c* the residual capacity of each
arc in the opposite direction on this augmenting path.
Return to step 1.

The figure below shows the residual network for the Seervada Park maximum flow problem, where every arc in the original
network in Fig 3 has been changed to an undirected arc. However, since the arc capacity in the original direction remains
the same, and has a value of zero in the opposite direction, the constraints on the flow direction are unchanged.

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 0 A 3
1 0
T
5 0 0
O 7 0 B 4 0 9 0
4 2 5 D
0
0 0 1
0
C E
4 0 6
Fig. 4Initial residual network of the Seervada Park problem

After applying the augmenting path algorithm, the optimal solution resulting in a maximum of 14 trips is shown below:

A
1 3
4 8 T 14
7 4
14 O B D

3 4 1 6

C E
3

Optimality test:
The optimality test for the maximum flow problem uses the max-flow min-cut theorem, which states that, for any
network with a single source and sink, the maximum feasible flow from the source to the sink equals the minimum cut
value for all cuts of the network. A cut is any set of directed arcs containing at least one arc from every directed path from
the source to the sink. It is a set of arcs whose removal will interrupt all paths from the source to the sink. The cut value
is the sum of the arc capacities of the arcs (in the specified direction) of the cut. Furthermore, the minimum cut shows the
area in the network whose expansion will increase the maximum flow.
PROBLEMS:
1. For the network shown below, use the augmenting path algorithm to find the flow pattern giving the maximum flow
from the source to the sink. Show all iterations.

4
2

5 4
6
4 3 1
1 2 7 Sink
Source
1 3 3 6
2 9
44

2. Consider the maximum flow problem shown below, where the source is node A, the sink is node F, and the arc capacities
are the numbers shown next to the directed arcs.
7
B D 6
9 2 3
A F
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 7 4 9
C 6 E

Use the augmenting path algorithm to solve for the maximum flow.

3. The diagram below depicts a system of aqueducts that originate at three rivers nodes R1, R2, and R3) and terminate at
a major city (node T), where the other nodes are junction points in the system.

A
D
R
1
B E T
R
2
C
Using units R of thousands F of acre feet, the tables below show the maximum
amount of 3 water that can be pumped through each aqueduct per day.
To To To
A B C D E F T
From From From
R1 130 115 - A 110 85 - D 220
R2 70 90 110 B 130 95 85 E 330
R3 - 140 120 C - 130 160 F 240
The city water manager wants to determine a flow plan that will maximize the flow of water to the city. Use the
augmenting path algorithm to solve the problem.

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