Modified particle swarm optimization algorithm for steelmaking charge plan with unknown charge number

An optimum furnace charge plan model with unknown charge number for steelmaking continuous casting planning and scheduling is presented. Based on the analysis of the difficult to solve the problem, a pseudo travel salesman problem model is presented to describe the plan and scheduling model. An improved particle swarm optimization with variant particle is presented to solve the optimum charge plan problem. Simulations have been carried and the results show that the pseudo travel salesman problem is very fit for describe the model. The computation with practical data shows that the model and the solving method are very effective