Most construction projects involve earthmoving operations. Careful management of trucks to perform these operations is considered crucial by earthwork contractors in Taiwan. A mechanism is described that optimizes the management of the truck fleets of earthwork contractors. The proposed model integrates a discrete event simulation technique and genetic algorithms (GAs) to minimize the duration of earthmoving operations. The discrete simulation model is applied to simulate earthmoving operations and generate schedules for dispatching various trucks, and the GAs are used as a filter to screen out schedules that require long trips. Examples prove that the proposed model can determine near-optimal solutions efficiently. In addition, a user-friendly computer program is developed so that earthwork contractors can plan the dispatch schedule of earthmoving trucks easily and effectively. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000219. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.