Optimal arrangement of systems

✍ Scribed by Philip J. Boland; Frank Proschan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 354 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-069X
• DOI: 10.1002/nav.3800310306

✦ Synopsis

To location 15, we are to allocate a "generator" and n, "machines" for i = 1, . . . ,k, where n , 2 . . . 2 n,. Although the generators and machines function independently of one another, a machine is operable only if it and the generator at its location are functioning. The problem we consider is that of finding the arrangement or allocation optimizing the number of operable machines. We show that if the objective is to maximize the expected number of operable machines at some future time, then it is best to allocate the best generator and the n, best machines to location L , , the second-best generator and the n,-next-best machines to location Lz, etc. However, this arrangement is not always stochastically optimal. For the case of two generators we give a necessary and sufficient condition that this arrangement is stochastically best, and illustrate the result with several examples.

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