Opportunity-based age replacement: Exponentially distributed times between opportunities

This article gives a full analysis of a component-replacement model in which preventive replacements are only possible at maintenance opportunities. These opportunities arise according to a Poisson process, independently of failures of the component. Conditions for the existence of a unique average optimal control limit policy are established and an equation characterizing the optimal policy and minimal average costs is derived. An important result is that the optimal policy can be described as a so-called one-opportunity-look-ahead policy. Such policies play an important role as heuristics in more general models. It is shown that there is a correspondence with the well-known age-replacement model, which can be considered as an extreme case of the model. Finally, some numerical results are given.     

On excess-, current-, and total-life distributions of phase-type renewal processes

Consider a renewal process whose interrenewal-time distribution is phase type with representation (α, T). We show that the (time-dependent) excess-life distribution is phase type with representation (α′, T), where α′ is an appropriately modified initial probability vector. Using this result, we derive the (time-dependent) distributions for the current life and the total life of the phase-type renewal process. They in turn enable us to obtain the equilibrium distributions for the three random variables. These results simplify the computation of the respective distribution functions and consequently enhance the potential use of renewal theory in stochastic modeling—particularly in inventory, queueing, and reliability applications. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Workload distribution of discrete‐time parallel queues with two servers

We study discrete‐time, parallel queues with two identical servers. Customers arrive randomly at the system and join the queue with the shortest workload that is defined as the total service time required for the server to complete all the customers in the queue. The arrivals are assumed to follow a geometric distribution and the service times are assumed to have a general distribution. It is a no‐jockeying queue. The two‐dimensional state space is truncated into a banded array. The resulting modified queue is studied using the method of probability generating function (pgf) The workload distribution in steady state is obtained in form of pgf. A special case where the service time is a deterministic constant is further investigated. Numerical examples are illustrated. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 47: 440–454, 2000     

The parallel replacement problem with demand and capital budgeting constraints

A generalized parallel replacement problem is considered with both fixed and variable replacement costs, capital budgeting, and demand constraints. The demand constraints specify that a number of assets, which may vary over time, are required each period over a finite horizon. A deterministic, integer programming formulation is presented as replacement decisions must be integer. However, the linear programming relaxation is shown to have integer extreme points if the economies of scale binary variables are fixed. This allows for the efficient computation of large parallel replacement problems as only a limited number of 0–1 variables are required. Examples are presented to provide insight into replacement rules, such as the “no‐splitting‐rule” from previous research, under various demand scenarios. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 47: 40–56, 2000     

低雷诺数壁面约束流动皮托管测速误差分析与校正

针对低雷诺数壁面约束流动中皮托管测速误差产生的两大主要影响因素——剪切速度与近壁效应,采用计算流体力学技术分别对其进行数值模拟,并研究各自引起的误差变化规律。数值模拟结果表明:虽然剪切速度引起的流线偏移规律与相关文献结论基本一致,但是数值结果预测的流线偏移量并不是一个渐近函数;近壁距离在5倍管径即出现较为明显的测量误差,并且发现近壁距离在1倍管径处出现误差的非单调性变化。最后通过将数值模拟结果与现有的修正方法进行对比,提出了更为合理的修正方程。     

Inventory policies for a make‐to‐order system with a perishable component and fixed ordering cost

We consider a make‐to‐order production system where two major components, one nonperishable (referred to as part 1) and one perishable (part 2), are needed to fulfill a customer order. In each period, replenishment decisions for both parts need to be made jointly before demand is realized and a fixed ordering cost is incurred for the nonperishable part. We show that a simple (s_n,S,S) policy is optimal. Under this policy, S along with the number of backorders at the beginning of a period if any and the availability of the nonperishable part (part 1) determines the optimal order quantity of the perishable part (part 2), while (s_n,S) guide when and how much of part 1 to order at each state. Numerical study demonstrates that the benefits of using the joint replenishment policy can be substantial, especially when the unit costs are high and/or the profit margin is low. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

Maintaining systems with heterogeneous spare parts

We consider the problem of optimally maintaining a stochastically degrading, single‐unit system using heterogeneous spares of varying quality. The system's failures are unannounced; therefore, it is inspected periodically to determine its status (functioning or failed). The system continues in operation until it is either preventively or correctively maintained. The available maintenance options include perfect repair, which restores the system to an as‐good‐as‐new condition, and replacement with a randomly selected unit from the supply of heterogeneous spares. The objective is to minimize the total expected discounted maintenance costs over an infinite time horizon. We formulate the problem using a mixed observability Markov decision process (MOMDP) model in which the system's age is observable but its quality must be inferred. We show, under suitable conditions, the monotonicity of the optimal value function in the belief about the system quality and establish conditions under which finite preventive maintenance thresholds exist. A detailed computational study reveals that the optimal policy encourages exploration when the system's quality is uncertain; the policy is more exploitive when the quality is highly certain. The study also demonstrates that substantial cost savings are achieved by utilizing our MOMDP‐based method as compared to more naïve methods of accounting for heterogeneous spares.     

Optimal maintenance policies for constantly monitored systems

A multistate system is assumed to be constantly monitored; i.e., the state of the system is always known with certainty. Damage to the system accumulates via a continuous-time Markov process. A model of the system including restoration costs and state occupation costs is developed. It is shown that under certain conditions the optimal restoration policy for the system is a control limit rule. A control limit rule is a policy which requires restoration of the system whenever the damage exceeds a certain level. Examples are presented to show that there are several situations in which, perhaps surprisingly, control limit rules are not optimal.