Life cycle optimisation

Description:Life cycle optimization. Presenter: Catherine Dallaire, P.Eng. Opus DaytonKnight Consultants Ltd. Additional Contributors: Bernadette, O'Connor, Nzce, Opus, Victoria, BC. Finding the right mixture and timing of investments to deliver on service levels, yet stay within the fiscal constraints, is a complex question. What type of rehabilitation should be done, where, and when to minimize overall expenditure. Least lifecycle cost requires decision makers to evaluate many alternatives to maximize the value, level of service, and risk profile of their infrastructure. Various approaches have been used to assess long term rehabilitation needs and develop capital plans. Historically, the “worst-first” approach to rehabilitation has often proved to be far from optimal. Other methods try to approximate the best return within the current year’s investment. Life Cycle Optimization (LCO) seeks to maximize the benefit of investment across the entire infrastructure portfolio over a long term horizon. If your investment solution is to be the least lifecycle cost, it has to consider alternative combinations of investment and timings over a long term time horizon. The LCO methodology generates a multi-periodic linear programming matrix which describes every potential choice over the entire planning horizon and then solves for the mathematical optimal solution. It selects the best choice based on management criteria, an objective function, and constraints. This approach results in selecting only strategies that offer the best benefit for the level of investment over the analysis period. It maximizes infrastructure investment outcomes. This paper focuses on the application of LCO for strategic municipal infrastructure planning by examining how this advanced asset management decision making approach was applied on drainage and wastewater treatment assets in Halifax.

Authors: Catherine Dallaire

Subjects:

Tags:AC15,2015 BCWWA Annual Conference & Trade Show,2015 Annual Conference,AC15 presentations

Citation:Stream 4: Sustainable Utility Management

Publication Date:May 28th, 2015 Upload Date:Jun 25th, 2015