An Optimization Technical for a Multitime Period Spares Provisioning Problem

摘要

This work contains an algorithm that yields an exact solution to a spares provisioning problem that was 'solved' previously using a heuristic algorithm. After presenting the backgrounds of the underlying gas turbine engine maintenance problem and the heuristic approach, a discussion of the techniques developed here to solve the problem exactly is presented. It is shown that the problem can be set in a form amenable to solution by a branch and bound procedure. In order to solve the subproblems, it is necessary to characterize the constraint region for each time period. An enumeration scheme, together with the concept of a 'corner' is introduced to accomplish this. Finally, dynamic programming is used to obtain the optimum of each subproblem associated with the branch and bound approach. Computational results are given for four problems. Three of these problems are modifications of the basic problem; they are presented to demonstrate the nature of the solution technique. The fourth problem is identical to a problem previously solved with the heuristic algorithm. Extensions to the original problem are then discussed.