Maximum Flow

Chapter 26

Flow Graph
A common scenario is to use a graph to
represent a flow network and use it to answer
questions about material flows
Flow is the rate that material moves through the
network
Each directed edge is a conduit for the material
with some stated capacity
Vertices are connection points but do not collect
material
Flow into a vertex must equal the flow leaving the
vertex, flow conservation

Sample Networks
Network

Nodes

Arcs

Flow

telephone exchanges, cables, fiber optics,

computers, satellites microwave relays

voice, video,
packets

gates, registers,
processors

wires

current

joints

rods, beams, springs

heat, energy

hydraulic

reservoirs, pumping
stations, lakes

pipelines

fluid, oil

financial

stocks, companies

transactions

money

transportation

airports, rail yards,

street intersections

highways, railbeds,
airway routes

freight,
vehicles,
passengers

sites

bonds

energy

communication
circuits

mechanical

chemical

Flow Concepts
Source vertex s
where material is produced

Sink vertex t
where material is consumed

For all other vertices what goes in must go out

Flow conservation

Goal: determine maximum rate of material

flow from source to sink

Formal Max Flow Problem

Graph G=(V,E) a flow network
Directed, each edge has capacity c(u,v) 0
Two special vertices: source s, and sink t
For any other vertex v, there is a path svt

Flow a function f : V V R
Capacity constraint: For all u, v V: f(u,v) c(u,v)
Skew symmetry: For all u, v V: f(u,v) = f(v,u)
Flow conservation: For all u V {s, t}:
2/15

0/9
5/14

vV

4/19

2/5

f (u, v) f (u,V ) 0, or

3/3

f (v, u) f (V , u ) 0
vV

Cancellation of flows
We would like to avoid two positive flows
in opposite directions between the same
pair of vertices
Such flows cancel (maybe partially) each
other due to skew symmetry
2/15

2/9
5/14

5/5

2/15

5/19

2/3

0/9
5/14

5/19

3/5

2/3

Max Flow
We want to find a flow of maximum value
from the source to the sink
Denoted by |f|

Lucky Puck Distribution Network

Max Flow, |f| = 19

Or is it?
Best we can do?

Ford-Fulkerson method
Contains several algorithms:
Residue networks
Augmenting paths
Find a path p from s to t (augmenting path), such that there is
some value x > 0, and for each edge (u,v) in p we can add x
units of flow
f(u,v) + x c(u,v)

Augmenting Path?
10/15

s
6/14

a
2/4

8/13
10

b
9

8/11

13/19

5/5

3/3

Residual Network
To find augmenting path we can find any path in the
residual network:
Residual capacities: cf(u,v) = c(u,v) f(u,v)
i.e. the actual capacity minus the net flow from u to v
Net flow may be negative

Residual network: Gf =(V,Ef), where

Ef = {(u,v) V V : cf(u,v) > 0}

Observation edges in Ef are either edges in E or their

reversals: |Ef| 2|E|
5/15

Sub-graph
With
c(u,v) and
f(u,v)

b
0/14

5/6

Residual
Sub-Graph

10

b
19

c
5

Residual Graph
Compute the residual graph of the graph with the
following flow:
10/15

s
6/14

a
2/4

8/13
10

b
9

8/11

13/19

5/5

3/3

Residual Capacity and Augmenting

Path
Finding an Augmenting Path
Find a path from s to t in the residual graph
The residual capacity of a path p in Gf:
cf(p) = min{cf(u,v): (u,v) is in p}
i.e. find the minimum capacity along p

Doing augmentation: for all (u,v) in p, we just

add this cf(p) to f(u,v) (and subtract it from
f(v,u))
Resulting flow is a valid flow with a larger
value.

Residual network and augmenting path

The Ford-Fulkerson method

Ford-Fulkerson(G,s,t)
1 for each edge (u,v) in G.E do
2
f(u,v) f(v,u) 0
3 while there exists a path p from s to t in residual
network Gf do
4
cf = min{cf(u,v): (u,v) is in p}
5
for each edge (u,v) in p do
6
f(u,v) f(u,v) + cf
7
f(v,u) -f(u,v)
8 return f

The algorithms based on this method differ in how they choose p in step 3.
If chosen poorly the algorithm might not terminate.

Execution of Ford-Fulkerson (1)

Left Side = Residual Graph

Right Side = Augmented Flow

Execution of Ford-Fulkerson (2)

Left Side = Residual Graph

Right Side = Augmented Flow

Cuts
Does the method find the minimum flow?
Yes, if we get to the point where the residual graph has no path from s
to t
A cut is a partition of V into S and T = V S, such that s S and t T
The net flow (f(S,T)) through the cut is the sum of flows f(u,v), where s
S and t T
Includes negative flows back from T to S

The capacity (c(S,T)) of the cut is the sum of capacities c(u,v), where s

S and t T

The sum of positive capacities

Minimum cut a cut with the smallest capacity of all cuts.

|f|= f(S,T) i.e. the value of a max flow is equal to the capacity of a min
cut.
10/15

s
6/14
Cut capacity = 24

a
2/4

8/13
10

b
9

8/11

13/19

5/5

3/3
Min Cut capacity = 21

Max Flow / Min Cut Theorem

1. Since |f| c(S,T) for all cuts of (S,T) then if |f| =
c(S,T) then c(S,T) must be the min cut of G
2. This implies that f is a maximum flow of G
3. This implies that the residual network Gf
contains no augmenting paths.

If there were augmenting paths this would contradict

that we found the maximum flow of G

1231 and from 23 we have that

the Ford Fulkerson method finds the maximum
flow if the residual graph has no augmenting
paths.

Worst Case Running Time

Assuming integer flow
Each augmentation increases the value of the flow by
some positive amount.
Augmentation can be done in O(E).
Total worst-case running time O(E|f*|), where f* is the
max-flow found by the algorithm.
Example of worst case:

Augmenting path of 1

Resulting Residual Network

Resulting Residual Network

Edmonds Karp
Take shortest path (in terms of number of
edges) as an augmenting path
Edmonds-Karp algorithm
How do we find such a shortest path?
Running time O(VE2), because the number of
augmentations is O(VE)
Skipping the proof here
Even better method: push-relabel, O(V2E)
runtime

Multiple Sources or Sinks

What if you have a problem with more than one source
and more than one sink?
Modify the graph to create a single supersource and
supersink
a

15

10

4
14
4

c
e

15

13

11

f
9

t
3

13

i
14

c
e

15

y
3

13

11

f
9

13

11

10

4
14

13
10

15

13

11

10

4
14

13

t
13

Application Bipartite Matching

Example given a community with n men and m
women
Assume we have a way to determine which
couples (man/woman) are compatible for
marriage
E.g. (Joe, Susan) or (Fred, Susan) but not (Frank,
Susan)

Problem: Maximize the number of marriages

No polygamy allowed
Can solve this problem by creating a flow network out
of a bipartite graph

Bipartite Graph
A bipartite graph is an undirected graph G=(V,E) in
which V can be partitioned into two sets V1 and V2 such
that (u,v) E implies either u V1 and v V12 or vice
versa.
That is, all edges go between the two sets V1 and V2 and
not within V1 and V2.

Model for Matching Problem

Men on leftmost set, women on rightmost
set, edges if they are compatible
A
X
B
Y
C

Y
C

Z
Men

Z
D

Women
A matching

Z
D
Optimal matching

Solution Using Max Flow

Add a supersouce, supersink, make each
undirected edge directed with a flow of 1
A

B
Y
C

B
Y
C

Z
D

Z
D

Since the input is 1, flow conservation prevents multiple matchings