Multilevel coverage location model of earthquake relief material storage repository considering distribution time sequence characteristics

The scientific location of earthquake emergency supply warehouses is conducive to the effective distribution of emergency relief resources and improved rescue efficiency in earthquake hazard. Comprehensively considering the regional population as well as coverage quality at the demand points, this paper aims to divide the coverage thresholds of earthquake emergency rescue and logistic supplies according to their time-series features, and to build a location model for supply warehouses according to the variety and amount of stored supplies considering their time-series features, in hope of optimizing the set covering issue of earthquake relief supply warehouses. The solution is approached with two methods: the target deviation rate minimization model and NSGA-Ⅱ algorithm. The results obtained by solving the target deviation rate minimization model can balance every target. The branch and bound algorithm can find the global optimal solution at a certain calculation scale with high calculation efficiency, but its efficiency decreases significantly when the operation scale increases. The NSGA-Ⅱ algorithm is more suitable for large-scale solution calculations with high calculation efficiency, and it can output a set of non-inferior solutions for decision makers to select from according to different preference. Taking Aba Prefecture in Sichuan Province as illustration, the feasibility of the model is validated; meanwhile, the effectiveness and benefits of the two approaches in solving the problem of multi-objective set covering of the warehouses are compared and analyzed.