A new geometric shape-based genetic clustering algorithm for the multi-depot vehicle routing problem

0957-4174/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2011.03.077 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 212 3832868. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (G.N. Y (N.Ç. Demirel). In this paper, a new type of geometric shape based genetic clustering algorithm is proposed. A genetic algorithm based on this clustering technique is developed for the solution process of the multi-depot vehicle routing problem. A set of problems obtained from the literature is used to compare the efficiency of the proposed algorithm with the nearest neighbor algorithm so as to solve the multi-depot vehicle routing problem. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides a better clustering performance in terms of the distance of each customer to each depot in clusters. This result in a considerably less computation time required, when compared with the nearest neighbor algorithm. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.