A Dual Exterior Point Simplex Type Algorithm for the Minimum Cost Network Flow Problem


George Geranis, Konstantinos Paparrizos, Angelo Sifaleras




A new dual simplex type algorithm for the Minimum Cost Network Flow Problem (MCNFP) is presented. The proposed algorithm belongs to a special “exterior- point simplex type” category. Similarly to the classical network dual simplex algorithm (NDSA), this algorithm starts with a dual feasible tree-solution and reduces the primal infeasibility, iteration by iteration. However, contrary to the NDSA, the new algorithm does not always maintain a dual feasible solution. Instead, the new algorithm might reach a basic point (tree-solution) outside the dual feasible area (exterior point - dual infeasible tree).