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An improved version of the out-of-kilter method and a comparative study of computer codes

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Abstract

The primary objectives of this paper are: (1) to present an improved formulation of the out-of-kilter algorithm; (2) to give the results of an extensive computational comparison of a code based on this formulation with three widely-used out-of-kilter production codes; (3) to study the possible sensitivity of these programs to the type of problem being solved; and (4) to investigate the effect of advanced dual start procedures on overall solution time.

The study discloses that the new formulation does indeed provide the most efficient solution procedure of those tested. This streamlined version of out-of-kilter was found to be faster than the other out-of-kilter codes tested (SHARE, BSRL and Texas Water Development Board codes) by a factor of 2–5 on small and medium size problems and by a factor of 4–15 on large problems. The streamlined method's median solution time for 1500 node networks on a CDC 6600 computer is 33 seconds with a range of 33 to 35 seconds.

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Barr, R.S., Glover, F. & Klingman, D. An improved version of the out-of-kilter method and a comparative study of computer codes. Mathematical Programming 7, 60–86 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01585504

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