OPTIMIZATION MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES TO SUPPORT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND POST-DISASTER RESPONSE

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dc.contributor.advisorMiller-Hooks, Eliseen_US
dc.contributor.authorChen, Lichunen_US
dc.contributor.departmentCivil Engineeringen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-10-07T05:32:22Z
dc.date.available2010-10-07T05:32:22Z
dc.date.issued2010en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation addresses three important optimization problems arising during the phases of pre-disaster emergency preparedness and post-disaster response in time-dependent, stochastic and dynamic environments. The first problem studied is the building evacuation problem with shared information (BEPSI), which seeks a set of evacuation routes and the assignment of evacuees to these routes with the minimum total evacuation time. The BEPSI incorporates the constraints of shared information in providing on-line instructions to evacuees and ensures that evacuees departing from an intermediate or source location at a mutual point in time receive common instructions. A mixed-integer linear program is formulated for the BEPSI and an exact technique based on Benders decomposition is proposed for its solution. Numerical experiments conducted on a mid-sized real-world example demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The second problem addressed is the network resilience problem (NRP), involving an indicator of network resilience proposed to quantify the ability of a network to recover from randomly arising disruptions resulting from a disaster event. A stochastic, mixed integer program is proposed for quantifying network resilience and identifying the optimal post-event course of action to take. A solution technique based on concepts of Benders decomposition, column generation and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed. Experiments were conducted to illustrate the resilience concept and procedure for its measurement, and to assess the role of network topology in its magnitude. The last problem addressed is the urban search and rescue team deployment problem (USAR-TDP). The USAR-TDP seeks an optimal deployment of USAR teams to disaster sites, including the order of site visits, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the expected number of saved lives over the search and rescue period. A multistage stochastic program is proposed to capture problem uncertainty and dynamics. The solution technique involves the solution of a sequence of interrelated two-stage stochastic programs with recourse. A column generation-based technique is proposed for the solution of each problem instance arising as the start of each decision epoch over a time horizon. Numerical experiments conducted on an example of the 2010 Haiti earthquake are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10763
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEngineering, Civilen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolleddisasteren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledemergencyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledoptimizationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledprepardnessen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledresponseen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledstochasticen_US
dc.titleOPTIMIZATION MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES TO SUPPORT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND POST-DISASTER RESPONSEen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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