Robust optimization of a discrete time-cost-environment trade-off problem by considering uncertainty in time and cost

Abstract

One of the major issues in construction project management is selection of the best alternative for execution of each activity, so that the project progresses with the lowest possible total cost and total time. In the real world, different sources of uncertainty usually adversely affect on activity duration and activity cost. Therefore, it is important to present methods for robust construction project scheduling that are less sensitive to disruptions caused by noise factors. In addition, existing approaches in literature seldom focus on environmentally conscious construction planning. However, obtaining of this aim requires to consider multiple objectives and their relationships, simultaneously. In this study, a roust optimization based method for solving discrete time-cost-enviroment trade-off problem is presented, in which time and cost of activities as uncertain factors are considered. To investigate the performance of the suggested approach, a computational analysis on construction project of protective wall of the east coast of port in the economic zone of Amirabad is performed. the obtained results indicate that the robust model has beter performance in comparison with the corresponding deterministic model.

Keywords

• project management
• time-cost-enviroment trade-off
• robust optimization
• multi-objective optimization