Resilient hazardous-materials network design under uncertainty and perishability

The design of transportation networks for hazardous materials (hazmat) poses several elements of complexity, including vulnerability to disasters which may lead to significant loss of life and property. In this paper, we propose a new bi-objective mathematical model for hazmat transportation design considering resiliency and perishability. Minimization of cost and risk with built-in de-resiliency measures are considered as the two primary objective functions. To cope with uncertainties in the model, a new multi-stage stochastic programming approach is developed. In order to deal with the NP-hard nature of the problem and to solve the model in large instances, a new Pareto-based lower bound procedure is introduced. Further, illustrative numerical examples are solved and the efficiency of the proposed approach is verified. Lastly, a case study on hazmat transportation in Iranian context is presented to illustrate the methodology and develop managerial insights.