Intervention grouping strategy for multi-component interconnected systems

Abstract

The well-being of modern societies depends on the functioning of their infrastructure networks. During their service lives, infrastructure networks are subject to different stresses (e.g., deterioration, hazards, etc.). Interventions are performed to ensure the continuous fulfillment of the infrastructure's functional goals. To guarantee a high level of infrastructure availability and serviceability with minimal intervention costs, preventive intervention planning is essential. Finding the optimal grouping strategy of intervention activities is an NP-hard problem that is well studied in the literature and for which various economic models and optimization approaches are proposed. This research focuses on a new efficient optimization model to cope with the intervention grouping problem of interconnected multicomponent systems. We propose a scalable two-step intervention grouping model based on a clustering technique. The clustering technique is formulated using Integer Linear Programing, which guarantees the convergence to global optimal solutions of the considered problem. The proposed optimization model can account for the interactions between multiple infrastructure networks and the impact on multiple stakeholders (e.g., society and infrastructure operators). The model can also accommodate different types of intervention, such as maintenance, removal, and upgrading. We show the performance of the proposed model using a demonstrative example. Results reveal a substantial reduction in net costs. In addition, the optimal intervention plan obtained in the analysis shows repetitive patterns, which indicates that a rolling horizon strategy could be adopted so that the analysis is only performed for a short time horizon.