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Maximal Flow Problem

The document describes solving a maximal flow problem using the maximal flow technique. The problem involves determining the maximum number of cars that can flow through the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin from west to east using its road network. The technique involves repeatedly finding paths from the source to the sink with unused capacity and incrementally increasing the flow along these paths until no more increases are possible, resulting in the maximum flow of 500 cars per hour. The maximal flow problem can also be modeled as a linear program with constraints on arc capacities and flow balance at nodes.

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Marian Mariez Pacio
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
133 views

Maximal Flow Problem

The document describes solving a maximal flow problem using the maximal flow technique. The problem involves determining the maximum number of cars that can flow through the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin from west to east using its road network. The technique involves repeatedly finding paths from the source to the sink with unused capacity and incrementally increasing the flow along these paths until no more increases are possible, resulting in the maximum flow of 500 cars per hour. The maximal flow problem can also be modeled as a linear program with constraints on arc capacities and flow balance at nodes.

Uploaded by

Marian Mariez Pacio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Maximal Flow Problem

 involves determining the maximum amount of


material that can flow from one point (the source) to
another (the sink) in a network.
Methods to find the maximal flow from
the source (start) to the sink (finish)

1. Maximal- Flow Technique


2. Linear Programming
We will begin by presenting an example and
demonstrating the first of these methods which is
the Maximal – Flow Technique

Waukesha, a small town in Wisconsin is in the


process of developing a road system for the
downtown area. Bill Blackstone, one of the city
planners, would like to determine the maximum
number of cars that can flow through the town
from west to east.
Figure 1 Road Network for Waukesha

The streets are indicated by


their respective nodes. The
numbers by the nodes indicate
the maximum number of cars(
in hundred of cars per hour
that can flow from the various
nodes.

Let us look at the street between nodes 1 and 2. The number 3 by node 1 indicates that
300 cars per hour can flow from node 1 to node 2. The numbers 1,1, & 2 in node 2
indicates the maximum flow from node 2 to nodes,4 & 6 respectively.
Step 1: Pick any path from the start
(source) to the finish (sink) with some Figure 2: Capacity Adjustment for
flow. If no path with flow exists, then the path 1-2-6 Iteration 1
optimal solution has been found

 We start by arbitrarily picking the


path 1-2-6 which is at the top of
the network.
 Then we adjust the flow
capacities.
 The result is the new path as
shown in Figure 2

Four Steps of Maximal-Flow Technique


Step 2: Find the arc on this path with the
smallest flow capacity available. Call this Figure 3: Second Iteration for
capacity C, which represents the maximum Waukesha Road System
additional capacity allocated to this route

 We repeat the process by


picking another path with
existing capacity
 We will pick 1-2-4-6
 Repeat the process

Four Steps of Maximal-Flow Technique


Step 3: For each node on this path, decrease
the flow capacity in the direction of flow by
Figure 3: Third and Final Iteration for
the amount C. For each node on this path,
increase the flow capacity in the reverse Waukesha Road System
direction by the amount C.

 Now we have a flow of 3 units (300):


200 per hour along path 1-2-6
plus100 cars per hour along path 1-2-
4-6
 There is a 2-unit increase in the flow
along path 1-2-4-6 as shown in this
figure

Four Steps of Maximal-Flow Technique


Step 4: . Repeat these steps until an
increase in flow is no longer possible

 Repeat the process, trying


to find a path with any
unused capacity through the
network

Four Steps of Maximal-Flow Technique


The maximum flow of 500 cars per
hour is summarized below:

 If we carefully check the


last iteration in Figure 3, we
see that there are no more
paths from node 1 to node 6
with unused capacity, even
though several other
branches in the network do
have unused capacity.

We can compare the original network to the final network


2 sets of constraints

 The maximal-flow problem First set– is the set of


can be modelled as a linear constraints that restricts the
program amount of flow on any arc to
 The objective is to the capacity of that arc.
maximize the flow through
the network Second set – indicates that the
amount of flow out of a node
will equal the amount of flow
into that node.

Linear Program for Maximal Flow

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