Project Scheduling with Discontinuous Piecewise Convex Activity Cost Functions

Abstract

When an activity can be performed with different techniques, the activity cost function may be a discontinuous piecewise convex function of the activity's duration. This makes the determination of the minimum cost schedule satisfying a specified project deadline a nonconvex problem. However, if an activity may be performed using a combination of the different technques, the concept of a convex hull can be used to transform the activity's cost function. The resulting convex problem can be solved by the existing PERT procedures. Therefore, this paper extends the applicability of existing PERT procedures to problems with discontinuous piecewise linear or piecewise convex activity cost functions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1978
Accession Number
ADA060500

Entities

People

  • Christian C. Robieux
  • Robert L. Sielken Jr.

Organizations

  • Texas A&M University

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Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Applied Mathematics
  • California
  • Connecticut
  • Convex Programming
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Engineering
  • Information Exchange
  • Mathematics
  • Military Research
  • Navy
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Operations Research
  • Optimization
  • United States

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