Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Often transported or stored in large volumes, hazardous materials (hazmats) are always associated with substantial levels of risks, due to the potential threats and damage to people and the environment. The Lac-Mégantic train derailment (2013) and the Beirut explosion (2020) further drew the world's attention to the safety of hazmat-related operations. Aiming to gain a better understanding of the existing networks and to propose adaptive solutions to facilitate hazmat transportation and urgent response decisions, three themes will be studied: Uncertainty, Behavior, and Time-dependency. Theme 1: Managing Hazmat Transportation in an Uncertain Environment. Uncertainties prevail in the real world. In transportation, the demands, facility processes, travel times, and incident probabilities are all stochastic in nature. Overlooking uncertainties at any stage of hazmat transportation planning may lead to progressed risk and loss. Another special type of uncertainty, disruptions caused by unforeseen events (e.g., inclement weather, labor actions, construction, lack or shortage of supplies, etc.), may also significantly impact the system performance. This study will embed these uncertain attributes into managing hazmat transportation, to establish a robust yet flexible system that can efficiently adapt to the changing environment, so to limit corresponding negative consequences. Theme 2: Incorporating Route Choice Behavior into Hazmat Network Design Problems. Most decision-making processes assume rational and cooperative decision makers. But this assumption may not always be true, especially when dealing with incomplete information or strong personal preferences. The route choices resulting from carriers' behaviors may provoke unexpected risk surges and hence need to be properly controlled. This theme will make tentative steps to link behavioral science to hazmat transportation by integrating route choice behaviors into the decision process of seeking the best network design. The proposed approaches can assist the authorities in achieving the lowest environmental impacts through imposing proactive and reactive policies to regulate the use of roads in light of carriers' realistic behaviors. Theme 3: Network Design and Route Planning in Time-Dependent Hazmat Networks. Real-world data suggest that transportation network parameters (e.g., traffic flow, travel speed, population density, etc.) vary with both time of day and weekday/weekend. Driven by the substantial data available, this research theme will examine the impact of time-dependency on shipping decisions, and attempt to mitigate the system risks through time-dependent policies (e.g., time-based curfew and/or toll), time-dependent network design (e.g., link and node management) and time-dependent operations (e.g., routing and scheduling). The logistics considerations of rescue facilities, fire departments, and medical units will also be integrated for comprehensive decision support.