Algorithmic Results for Potential-Based Flows: Easy and Hard Cases

Submission Status:published
  • Potential-based flows are an extension of classical network flows in which the flow on an arc is determined by the difference of the potentials of its incident nodes. Such flows are unique and arise, for example, in energy networks. Two important algorithmic problems are to determine whether there exists a feasible flow and to maximize the flow between two designated nodes. We show that these problems can be solved for the single source and sink case by reducing the network to a single arc. However, if we additionally consider switches that allow to force the flow to 0 and decouple the potentials, these problems are NP-hard. Nevertheless, for particular series-parallel networks, one can use algorithms for the subset sum problem. Moreover, applying network presolving based on generalized series-parallel structures allows to significantly reduce the size of realistic energy networks.

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Author:Martin Groß, Pfetsch Marc E., Lars Schewe, Martin Schmidt, Martin Skutella
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/net.21865
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2017/08/04
Date of first Publication:2017/08/04
Release Date:2017/08/04
Tag:Maximum flow problem; Network reduction; Potential networks; Potential-based flows; Series-parallel graphs
Volume:73
Issue:3
Edition:Networks
First Page:303
Last Page:324
Institutes:Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Technische Universität Berlin
Subprojects:A01
A07
B07
B08