Availability optimization with genetic algorithm

This paper presents an availability optimization problem of an engineering system assembled in a series configuration which has the redundancy of units and teams of maintenance as optimization parameters. The objective is to reach the maximum value of availability, considering installation and maintenance costs, weight, volume and available maintenance teams as constraints. The optimization method uses a genetic algorithm (GA), which is based on biological concepts of species evolution. It is a robust method, because it does not converge to a local optimum. It does not need the use of differential calculus, facilitating the computational implementation. The final results are significantly indicative about the fitting of the GA parameters and the application of the methodology to solve engineering design problems involving systems availability.

[1]  Leonard A. Doty.  Reliability for the technologies , 1985 .

[2]  Gregory Levitin.  Redundancy optimization for multi-state system with fixed resource-requirements and unreliable sources , 2001, IEEE Trans. Reliab..

[3]  Zbigniew Michalewicz,et al.  Genetic Algorithms + Data Structures = Evolution Programs , 1996, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[4]  Richard E. Barlow,et al.  Engineering reliability , 1987 .

[5]  Jesse C. Jones,et al.  The Engineering Design Process , 1993 .

[6]  Melanie Mitchell,et al.  An introduction to genetic algorithms , 1996 .

[7]  Y. Hsieh,et al.  Genetic algorithms for reliability design problems , 1998 .

[8]  J. Wohl.  System Operational Readiness and Equipment Dependability , 1966 .

[9]  Yash P. Gupta,et al.  Genetic-algorithm-based reliability optimization for computer network expansion , 1995 .

[10]  Elmer E Lewis,et al.  Introduction To Reliability Engineering , 1987 .

[11]  Helio Fiori de Castro,et al.  Reliability Optimization of Redundant Systems , 2002 .

[12]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[13]  Gregory Levitin,et al.  Redundancy optimization of static series-parallel reliability models under uncertainty , 1997 .

[14]  Way Kuo,et al.  An annotated overview of system-reliability optimization , 2000, IEEE Trans. Reliab..

[15]  Zbigniew Michalewicz,et al.  Genetic algorithms + data structures = evolution programs (3rd ed.) , 1996 .

[16]  Laura Painton,et al.  Genetic algorithms in optimization of system reliability. , 1995 .