Multi-period hub location problem with serial demands: A case study of humanitarian aids distribution in Lebanon

In this paper, we address the problem of humanitarian aids distribution across refugee camps in war-ridden areas from a network design perspective. We show that the problem can be modeled as a variant of multi-period hub location problem with a particular demand pattern resulted by the user’s behavior. The problem has been motivated by a case study of Lebanese experience in Syrian war refugee accommodation. We elaborate on the complexity and real-life constraints and, propose a compact formulation of a mathematical model of the problem. We then show that modeling the problem using a Benders paradigm drives O(n3) variables of the original compact model unnecessary in addition to the constraints that are being projected out in a typical Benders decomposition. Additionally, we identify several classes of valid inequalities together with efficient separation procedures leading to a cut-and-Benders approach. Our extensive computational experiments on the case study with real data as well as randomly generated instances proves the performance of proposed solution methods.