CHEMICAL REACTION OPTIMIZATION METAHEURISTIC FOR LOCATING SERVICE STATIONS THROUGH THE CAPACITATED P-MEDIAN PROBLEM

ABSTRACT Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO) is a metaheuristic for solving optimization problems, which mimics the interactions between molecules in a chemical reaction with the purpose of achieving a stable, low-energy state. In the present work, we utilize the CRO metaheuristic to solve, in an efficient manner, the capacitated p-median problem, in order to locate service stations. Results from solving small to medium-sized problems available in the literature, with up to 724 notes and 200 medians, are compared to their optimal or best-known values. Results show that CRO results are comparable, in terms of accuracy and execution time, to many existing successfulmetaheuristics, as well as exact and hybrid methods, having exceeding those in some cases.