Track 1 Tutorial 1

3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Optimization in Reliability and Maintainability Applications

Optimization is an extremely valuable tool in the area of reliability and maintainability. It is optimization that actually allows us to obtain the best possible system designs and maintenance policies. Without optimization, all that exists is a model with no solution. Optimization exists in a wide variety of fields other than R&M so we will focus only on those methods most applicable to R&M itself. We will provide some key models to demonstrate the application and formulation of various optimization methods. The remainder of this tutorial seeks to address the following topics: 1) What is optimization? 2) Introduction to optimization theory. 3) Overview of the optimization techniques most often used in R&M. 4) Reliability optimization models and solution procedures. 5) Maintenance optimization models and solution procedures.

Key Words: Optimization, Reliability Applications, R&M, Maintenance

Edward A. Pohl and C. Richard Cassady

University of Arkansas

Fayetteville, Arkansas