NETWORK MODELS

Dr. Maira Anis

PhD ( Engineering Management)

Assistant Professor

Bahria University
Layout of Presentation
• Introduction
• Importance of Network Models
• Basic Definitions & Terminologies
• Formulation of Network Models
• Types of Network Models
Introduction
• How you define network?
• Why are they important?
Introduction
• In operations research, network models provide a
structured way to represent and analyze the relationships
between different components within a system. These
models are particularly useful when dealing with problems
involving the movement or transfer of entities from one
location to another.
Types of Network Models
• Transportation Models:
• Transportation models are used to optimize the
distribution of goods from multiple suppliers to multiple
destinations, considering factors such as transportation
costs, capacities, and demands.
• Example: A company shipping products from multiple
warehouses to various retailers, minimizing transportation
costs.
Types of Network Models
• Assignment Models:
• Assignment models are concerned with assigning a set of
resources to a set of tasks in the most optimal way. Each resource
is assigned to a specific task, and the goal is to minimize the total
cost or time.
• Example: Assigning workers to different tasks in a project to
minimize the overall cost of labor.
• Shortest Path Models:
• Shortest path models aim to find the most efficient route or path
between two points in a network. These models are crucial in
transportation and logistics planning.
• Example: Determining the shortest route for delivery trucks to
transport goods from a warehouse to a customer.
Types of Network Models
• Maximum Flow Models:
• Maximum flow models are used to find the maximum
amount of flow that can be transported through a network.
This is applicable in scenarios where the goal is to
maximize the throughput of a system.
• Example: Optimizing the flow of goods through a
manufacturing process to maximize production output.
Types of Network Models
• Project Network Models (PERT and CPM):
• Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and
Critical Path Method (CPM) are network models used in
project management to schedule and control complex
projects.
• Example: Planning the construction of a building,
considering the sequence of tasks and their
dependencies.
Definition of Network
• A graph consists of a set of nodes (N), linked by a set of
edges or arcs (A).
• For many applications, it is necessary to introduce
distances dij for the arcs.
• Arcs can be directed or undirected.
• If the arcs are directed then we have a directed graph.
Representation of a Network
• A network consists of a set of nodes linked by arcs (or branches).
• The notation for describing a network is (N, A), where N is the set of
nodes and A is the set of arcs. As an illustration, the network in
following figure is described as

• N = {1,2,3,4,5}

• A = {(1,2), (1,3), (2,3), (2,5), (3,4), (3,5), (4,2), (4,5)}

• Associated with each network is a flow (e.g., oil products flow in a

pipeline and automobile traffic flows in highways).
• In general, the flow in a network is limited by the capacity of its arcs,
which may be finite or infinite.
Terminologies in Network Model
• A path is a sequence of arcs that joins two nodes.
• A path is a cycle/loop if it connects a node with itself.
(Directed paths and cycles, simple path).
• In a connected graph there exists at least one path
between each pair of nodes.
• A tree is a connected graph without cycles that connects a
subset of all nodes.
• A spanning tree is a tree that connects all nodes.
Scope of Network Models in Real Life
• Many different problems can be formulated as
graph/network models:
• Find the shortest/fastest connection from Chalmers to
Lindholmen.
• Connect a number of base stations minimizing the total
cost.
• Find the maximum capacity in a given water pipeline
network.
• Find a time schedule (start and completion times) for
activities in a project.
Scope of Network Models in Real Life
• Design of an offshore natural-gas pipeline network connecting
well heads in the Gulf of Mexico to an inshore delivery point.
The objective of the model is to minimize the cost of
constructing the pipeline.
• Determination of the minimum-cost flow schedule from oil fields
to refineries through a pipeline network
• Determination of the shortest route between two cities in an
existing network of roads.
• Determination of the maximum capacity (in tons per year) of a
coal slurry pipeline network joining coal mines in Wyoming with
power plants in Houston. (Slurry pipelines transport coal by
pumping water through specially designed pipes).
• Determination of the time schedule (start and completion dates)
for the activities of a construction project.
Types of Network Models
Some of the widely used networking models in solving real
world scenarios are
• The minimum-spanning tree
• The maximum-flow
• The shortest-path
• Critical Path Method
Minimum-Spanning Tree
• Objective: is to determine a path in a network that
connects all the points while minimizing the total distance.

• Applications: connecting phone lines, computer systems,

GPS systems, Google maps etc.
What is a Spanning Tree
• Given an undirected and connected graph G=(V,E), a
spanning tree of the graph G is a tree that spans G (that
is, it includes every vertex of G) and is a sub-graph
of G (every edge in the tree belongs to G).
What is a Minimum Spanning Tree
• The cost of the spanning tree is the sum of the weights of
all the edges in the tree.
• There can be many spanning trees.
• Minimum spanning tree is the spanning tree where the
cost is minimum among all the spanning trees.
Minimum-Spanning Tree (Problem)
• Find minimum spanning tree for the following network
model
Solution
The Maximum Flow Problem
• Objective: is to find maximum flow of quantity through a
network between input node(source) to the output
node(destination).

• Applications: Traffic control systems on highways, water

pipeline systems, number of simultaneous phone calls.
The Maximum Flow Problem
• In a network model, a flow network is defined as a
directed graph involving a source(S) and a sink(T) and
several other nodes connected with edges.
• Each edge has an individual capacity which is the
maximum limit of flow that edge could allow.
• Maximum flow is defined as maximum amount of flow that
the network would allow to flow from source to sink.
Multiple algorithms exist in solving the maximum flow
problem. The most widely used algorithm is Ford-
Fulkerson Algorithm.
Ford-Fulkerson Algorithm
Ford-Fulkerson Algorithm
Ford-Fulkerson Algorithm
The Shortest Path
• Objective: is to find the shortest path through a network
between two nodes(locations).

• Applications: Travel distance, laying phones or power

cables between two cities etc.
The Shortest Path
• The shortest path problem is about finding a path
between 2 vertices in a graph such that the total sum of
the edges weights is minimum.
• We will use Dijkstra's Algorithm to find the shortest path.
• Dijkstra's algorithm has many variants but the most
common one is to find the shortest paths from the source
vertex to all other vertices in the graph.
Dijkstra's Algorithm