Math Is Fun Forum

RichardM

Guest

Optimisation - Help

Hello,

I work for a small Council and we are constantly fixing our roads and pavements, and I cant help but feel like we are doing it wrong i.e. we are doing the repairs and maintenance with a lot of waste. I have started to do some research it seems like I need to optimise our work, but I have no idea how to do this and i am hoping i can get some help. I have been enjoying this challenge, but i am starting to get more questions than answers

I can get a file that lists all roads, their condition etc. and the costs to treat our roads is known. i can express the optimisation needed below:

facts:
each road section has a type (gravel, sealed, concrete only interested in sealed)
each road section has a priority/importance rating (1 to 10)
each road section has a target performance status (1 to 10)
each road section has a current performance status
               (where a road doesn't have a status, a function is applied to age to determine status)
there are many treatment types (a, b, c, d, e and f, with f being complete replacement)
each treatment type has a known cost per meter
each treatment type has a known improvement level (a raise status by 1)
Council can only allocate a number of treatments per period as we only have a few staff, and we have a set budget.

goal:
allocate treatment types to road sections to increase the sections performance status to its performance goal
               so that it is within the total budget allocated and number of treatments available
                              and optimised according to priority.

Not really sure where to take this from here. i was hoping there was some software i could use to help express and solve the problem. at a dead end i am afraid.

Thanks, Richard.