Maximum Flow Ford-Fulkarson’s algorithm, with C Program Example

The Ford-Fulkerson algorithm is a method that resolves the max-flow min-cut problem. That is, given a network with vertices and edges between those vertices that have certain weights, how much “flow” can the network process at a time? Flow can mean anything, but typically it means data through a computer network. When the capacities are integers, the runtime of Ford–Fulkerson is bounded by O ( E *f ).

Ford-Fulkarson’s algorithm

Given a graph which represents a flow network where every edge has a capacity. Also given two vertices source ‘s’ and sink ‘t’ in the graph, find the maximum possible flow from s to t with following constraints:

  • Flow on an edge doesn’t exceed the given capacity of the edge.
  • Incoming flow is equal to outgoing flow for every vertex except s and t. _config.yml

The maximum possible flow in the above graph is 23.

_config.yml

Program in C :

#include <stdio.h>
#define WHITE 0
#define GRAY 1
#define BLACK 2
#define MAX_NODES 1000
#define oo 1000000000
int n;  // number of nodes
int e;  // number of edges
int capacity[MAX_NODES][MAX_NODES]; // capacity matrix
int flow[MAX_NODES][MAX_NODES];     // flow matrix
int color[MAX_NODES]; // needed for breadth-first search               
int pred[MAX_NODES];  // array to store augmenting path

int min (int x, int y) {
    return x<y ? x : y;  // returns minimum of x and y
}
int head,tail;
int q[MAX_NODES+2];

void enqueue (int x) {
    q[tail] = x;
    tail++;
    color[x] = GRAY;
}

int dequeue () {
    int x = q[head];
    head++;
    color[x] = BLACK;
    return x;
}
int bfs (int start, int target) {
    int u,v;
    for (u=0; u<n; u++) {
	color[u] = WHITE;
    }   
    head = tail = 0;
    enqueue(start);
    pred[start] = -1;
    while (head!=tail) {
	u = dequeue();
        // Search all adjacent white nodes v. If the capacity
        // from u to v in the residual network is positive,
        // enqueue v.
	for (v=0; v<n; v++) {
	    if (color[v]==WHITE && capacity[u][v]-flow[u][v]>0) {
		enqueue(v);
		pred[v] = u;
	    }
	}
    }
    // If the color of the target node is black now,
    // it means that we reached it.
    return color[target]==BLACK;
}

int max_flow (int source, int sink) {
    int i,j,u;
    // Initialize empty flow.
    int max_flow = 0;
    for (i=0; i<n; i++) {
	for (j=0; j<n; j++) {
	    flow[i][j] = 0;
	}
    }
    // While there exists an augmenting path,
    // increment the flow along this path.
    while (bfs(source,sink)) {
        // Determine the amount by which we can increment the flow.
	int increment = oo;
	for (u=n-1; pred[u]>=0; u=pred[u]) {
	    increment = min(increment,capacity[pred[u]][u]-flow[pred[u]][u]);
	}
        // Now increment the flow.
	for (u=n-1; pred[u]>=0; u=pred[u]) {
	    flow[pred[u]][u] += increment;
	    flow[u][pred[u]] -= increment;
	}
	max_flow += increment;
    }
    // No augmenting path anymore. We are done.
    return max_flow;
}

void read_input_file() {
    int a,b,c,i,j;
    FILE* input = fopen("data.txt","r");
    // read number of nodes and edges
    fscanf(input,"%d %d",&n,&e);
    printf("\nNumber of Vertices : %d   Edges : %d",n,e);
    // initialize empty capacity matrix 
    for (i=0; i<n; i++) {
	for (j=0; j<n; j++) {
	    capacity[i][j] = 0;
	}
    }
    // read edge capacities
    for (i=0; i<e; i++) {
	fscanf(input,"%d %d %d",&a,&b,&c);
	capacity[a][b] = c;
	printf("\nA : %d  B : %d  Capacity : %d",a,b,c);
    }
    fclose(input);
}

int main () {
    read_input_file();
    printf("\nPlease enter Source(s) and Sink(t) :\n");
    int s=0,t=n-1;
    scanf("%d %d",&s,&t);
    printf("\nMax Flow : %d\n",max_flow(s,t));
    return 0;
}

Output:

_config.yml

Please comment below in case of any problem found during running the code or any other doubts.

Saheb Ghosh

Saheb Ghosh
Computer Science Major, Bioinformatics Bachelor, Deep Learning enthusiast, hard core Gamer , occasional Philosopher, avid music listener and movie lover. Visit my other blog for Gaming and Technical review related posts @ Blogger; also feel free to post a question @ Quora (links below)

How to Change Service Fabric replicator log size and drive

How to modify Service Fabric replicator log size and also how to change Service Fabric Local cluster installtion directory or log directory. Continue reading