The rectilinear distance Weber problem in the presence of a probabilistic line barrier

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of locating a single facility in the presence of a line barrier that occurs randomly on a given horizontal route on the plane. The objective is to locate this new facility such that the sum of the expected rectilinear distances from the facility to the demand points in the presence of the probabilistic barrier is minimized. Some properties of the problem are reported, a solution algorithm is provided with an example problem, and some future extensions to the problem are discussed.