Application of Chaos Theory in Hazardous Material Transportation

Risk factors are generally defined and assigned to road networks, as constant measures in hazmat routing problems. In fact, they may be dynamic variables depending on traffic volume, weather and road condition, and drivers’ behavior. In this research work, risk factors are defined as dynamic variables using the concept of chaos theory. The largest Lyapunov exponent is utilized to determine the presence of chaos for road accident rates. Risk factors with the property of chaotic behavior are considered to solve hazmat routing problem using a developed mathematical model. Evaluation process has been done based on travel distance which mainly represents travel cost, as well as results show that the application of chaos to define dynamic risk factor is an appropriate method to solve hazmat routing problem, comparing to constant measures of risks.