International Journal of Mathematics Research.

ISSN 0976-5840 Volume 8, Number 2 (2016), pp. 127-132

© International Research PublicationHouse
http://www.irphouse.com

Solving Fuzzy Transportation Problem using

Ranking of Trapezoidal Fuzzy Numbers

1
P.Maliniand2Dr. M.Ananthanarayanan
1
Assistant Professor,Department of Mathematics,Jeppiaar Engineering
College,Chennai- 119, Tamil Nadu, India.
2
Associate Professor,Department of Mathematics, A.M.JAIN College,
Chennai-600 114, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract

Ranking fuzzy numbers play a vital role in decision making problems, data
analysis and socio economics systems. Ranking fuzzy numbers is a necessary
step in many mathematical models. Many of the methods proposed so far are
non-discriminating. This paper presents a new ranking method and using
which we convert the fuzzy transportation problem to a crisp
valuedtransportation problem which then can be solved using MODI Method
to find the fuzzy optimal solution. Numerical examples show that the fuzzy
ranking method offers a impressive tool for handling the fuzzy transportation
problems.

Keywords: Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, Ranking function, Fuzzy

TransportationProblem.

1. INTRODUCTION
Transportation problem is used globally in solving certain concrete world problems.
A transportation problem plays a vital role in production industry and many other
purposes. The transportation problem is a special case of Linearprogramming
problem, which permit us to regulate the optimum shipping patternsbetween origins
and destinations.The solution of the problem will empower us to determine the
number of entities to be transported from a particular origin to a particular destination
so that the cost obtained is minimum or the time taken is minimum or the profit
obtained is maximum. Let ai be the number of units of a product available at origin i
and bj be the number of units of the product required at destination j. Let Cij be the
128 P. Malini and Dr. M. Ananthanarayanan

cost of transporting one unit from origin i to destination j and let xij be the amount of
quantity carried or shipped from origin i to destination j. A fuzzy transportation
problem is a transportation problem in which the transportation expenditures, supply
and demand quantities are fuzzy quantities.Ranking fuzzy number is a necessary step
in many mathematical models.The concepts of fuzzy sets were first introduced by
Zadeh[14]. Since its inception several ranking procedure have been developed.There
onwards many authors presented various approaches for solving the FTP
problems[1],[2],[4]. Few of these ranking approaches have been reviewed and
compared by Bortolan and Degani[3]. Presently Chen and H Wang[5]reviewed the
existing method for ranking fuzzy numbers and each approach has drawbacks in some
aspects such as indiscrimination and finding not so easy to interpretate. As of now
none of them is completely accepted.

Ranking normal fuzzy number were first introduced by Jain[7] for decision making in
fuzzy situations. Chanstated that in many situations it is not possible to restrict the
membership function to the general form and proposed the concept of generalized
fuzzy numbers. Since then remarkable efforts are made on the development of
numerous methodologies. The development in ordering fuzzy numbers can even be
found in [8],[9],[11],[12],[13].Fuzzy numbers must be ranked before a decision is
taken by a decision maker.

In this paper a new method is presented for the ranking of generalized fuzzy
trapezoidal numbers. To illustrate this proposed method, an exampleis discussed. As
the proposed ranking method is very direct and simple it is very easy to understand
and using which it is easy to find the fuzzy optimal solution of fuzzy
transportationproblems occurring in the real life situations.

This paper is organized as follows: Section 2briefly introduced the basic definition of
fuzzy numbers. In section 3, a new ranking procedure is proposed. In section 4,
MODI method is adopted to solve Fuzzy transportation problems. To illustrate the
proposed method a numerical example is solved. Finally the paper ends with a
conclusion.

2. PRELIMINARIES
In this section we define some basic definitions which will be used in this paper.

2.1 Definition
If x is a set of objects denoted generally by X, then a fuzzy set A in X is defined as a
set of ordered pairs A={(x, µA(x)/ x Є X} where µA(x) is called the membership
function for the fuzzy set A the membership function maps each element of X to a
membershipvalue between 0 and 1.
Solving Fuzzy Transportation Problem using Ranking of Trapezoidal 129

2.2 Definition
A fuzzy set A is defined on universal set of real numbers is said to be a generalized
fuzzy number if its membership function has the following characteristics
(i) µA(x) =R → [0,1] is continuous
(ii) µA(x) = 0 for all x Є A (-∞ ,a] U [d,∞)
(iii) µA(x) is strictly increasing on [a, b] and strictly decreasing on [c, d]
(iv) µA(x) = ω for all x Є [b, c], where 0 < ω ≤ 1

2.3 Definition
A generalized fuzzy number A= ( a,b,c,d, ω) is said to be a generalized trapezoidal
fuzzy number if its membership function is given by

If ω =1, then A =(a,b,c,d; 1) is a normalized trapezoidal fuzzy number and A is a

generalized or non normaltrapezoidal fuzzy number if 0 < ω < 1

As a particular case if b=c, the trapezoidal fuzzy number reduces to a triangular fuzzy
number given by A=(a,b,d; 1)

2.4 Definition
Let A1= (a1,b1,c1,d1; ω1) and A2= (a2,b2,c2,d2 ; ω2) be generalized trapezoidal fuzzy
number defined on real numbers R then
(i) A1 + A2 = (a1+a2, b1+b2 , c1+c2, d1+d2 ; min(ω1, ω2))
(ii) A1 - A2 = (a1-d2, b1-c2 , c1-b2, d1-a2 ; min(ω1, ω2))

3. RANKING OF TRAPEZOIDAL FUZZY NUMBERS

In this section, a new approach for ranking of generalized trapezoidal number is
proposed using trapezoid as reference point. Ranking methods map fuzzy number
directly in to the real line. That is , M : F R which associate every fuzzy number
with a real number and then use the ordering ≥ on the real line.
130 P. Malini and Dr. M. Ananthanarayanan

Let A= (a1,b1,c1,d1 ; ω1) be generalized trapezoidal fuzzy numbers then R(A) is

calculated as follows:
Step 1 :Find ω = minimum (ω1, ω2)
Step2:Find R(A)= [k(a1+d1)+2(1- k)(b1+c1)],
wherek Є (0,1)

4. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
We shall present a solution to fuzzy transportation problem involving shipping cost,
customer demand and availability of products using trapezoidal fuzzy numbers.
Consider the following fuzzy transportation problem.

S DESTINATION SUPPLY
O (1,2,3,4) (1,3,4,6) (9,11,12,14) (5,7,8,11) (1,6,7,12)
U
R (0,1,2,4) (-1,0,1,2) (5,6,7,8) (0,1,2,3) (0,1,2,3)
C
E (3,5,6,8) (5,8,9,12) (12,15,16,19) (7,9,10,12) (5,10,12,17)

DEMAND (5,7,8,10) (1,5,6,10) (1,3,4,6) (1,2,3,4)

Step 1: Now by using the ranking technique , we convert the given fuzzy problem in
to a crisp valued problem. The problem is done by taking the value of k as 0.5
and ω=1 .
The FTP is

1.875 2.625 8.625 5.75 4.875

1.25 0.375 4.875 1.125 1.125
4.125 6.375 11.625 7.125 8.25
5.625 4.125 2.625 1.875

Step 2: Using VAM procedure we obtain the initial solution as

0.75 4.125
1.125
4.875 2.625 0.75

Which is not an optimal solution

Solving Fuzzy Transportation Problem using Ranking of Trapezoidal 131

Step 3:Hence by using the MODI method we shall get the optimal solution as

4.125 0.75
1.125
5.625 0.75 1.875

The crisp valueof the optimum fuzzy transportation for the given problem is Rs68

CONCLUSIONS
Ranking fuzzy numbers is a critical task in a fuzzy decision making process.Each
ranking method represents a different point of view on fuzzy numbers.This work
proposed anew ranking method which is simple and efficient. As mentioned by Wang
and Kerre, it is not possible to give a final answer to the question on which fuzzy
ranking method is the best. Most of the time choosing a method rather than another is
a matter of preference. However, believing that the results obtained in this paper gives
us the optimum cost for the fuzzy transportation problems.

REFERENCES

[1] Abbasbandy ,S., and Hajjari ,T., 2009,“A new approach for ranking of
trapezoidal fuzzy numbers,”Computers and Mathematics with
Applications.,57 , pp.413-419.
[2] Amit Kumar, Pushpindersingh,and JagdeepKaur, 2010,“Two phase Method
for solving Fuzzylinear programming problems using Ranking of
generalized Fuzzy numbers,” InternationalJournal of Applied Scienceand
Engineering.,8, pp.124-147.
[3] Bortolan,G., andDegani,R., 1985,” A review of some methods for ranking
fuzzy subsets,” Fuzzy Set and Systems.,15, pp.1-19.
[4] Cheng ,C . H., 1998, “ A new approach for ranking fuzzy numbers by
distance method,” Fuzzy Sets and Systems.,95, pp.307-317.
[5] Chen ,S.J., andHwang , C.L.,1992 , “Fuzzy multiple attribute decision
making,”Springer,Berlin.
[6] Chen ,L. H.,and Lu,H.W.,2001, “An approximate approach for ranking
fuzzynumbers based on left and right dominance,” Computers and
Mathematics with Applications.,41, pp.1589-1602.
[7] Jain ,R.,1976,“Decision making in the presence of fuzzy variables,” IEEE
Transactions onSystems,Man and Cybernetics .,6 , pp.698-703.
[8] Kaufmann ,A., andGupta , M.M., 1985, “ Introduction to Fuzzy
Arithmetics,” Theory andApplications ,Van Nostrand Reinhold,Newyork.
[9] Lee,L.W. ,and Chen,S.M. ,2008 ,“Fuzzy risk analysis based on fuzzy
numbers with different shapesand different deviations,” Experts Systems
with Applications ,34, pp.2763-2771.
132 P. Malini and Dr. M. Ananthanarayanan

[10] Liou,T.S., and Wang ,M.J . , 1992 , “Ranking fuzzy numbers with integral
value ,” Fuzzy Sets andSystems ,50 , pp.247-255.
[11] PhaniBushan Rao, P., and Ravishankar ,N.,2011, “Ranking fuzzy numbers
with a distance methodusing circumcenter of centroids and an Index of
Modality,” dvances in FuzzySystem,10 , pp.1155-1161.
[12] Valvis, E ., 2009 , “A new linear ordering of fuzzy numbers on subsets of
F(R),” Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making ,8 , pp.141-163.

[13] Wang,Y.J., and Lee, H.S . , 2008, “ The revised method of ranking fuzzy
numbers with an area betweenthecentroid and original points,” Computer
and Mathematics with applications,55, pp.2033 -2042.
[14] Zadeh,L.A.,1965, “ Fuzzy sets,” Information andcontrol ,8, pp. 338-353.