Time-cost tradeoff analysis with minimized project financing cost

摘要

Time-cost tradeoff analysis allows a contractor to build a project using an optimal schedule that leads to minimum cost. The financing cost can be minimized if the financing decision considers different financing alternatives such as short-term and long-term loans and lines of credit. Financing optimization should be integrated into time-cost tradeoff analysis to minimize total cost and maximize profit. This study proposes an integrated model that performs time-cost tradeoff analysis and financing optimization. A hybrid GALP algorithm is introduced to solve the optimization by combining genetic algorithms (GA) and linear programming (LP). The proposed model is tested using small and large networks: (1) to prove that optimal results are obtained in terms of the financing cost and profit if the proposed integrated model is used, (2) to validate the performance and structure of each model, and (3) to confirm the practicality of the proposed models in large networks.