Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Utilization Of Integer Programming For Scheduling Maintenance At Nuclear Power Plants, Timothy Gallacher

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis develops a thought that naturally explores three specific motifs for solving the complexities of scheduling maintenance at Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). The first chapter of this paper will develop the initial thought around creating a schedule for a given work week, including all the various constraints inherent to this problem. Such constraints include but are not limited to personnel availability, allowable component out-of-service time, and the Plant Risk Assessment. The objective function being to minimize the total cost of worker’s compensation for that given week.

The second chapter addresses the question of whether this simple schedule can be …

Quality And Productivity Improvements In Additive Manufacturing, Huseyin Kose

Doctoral Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a relatively new manufacturing technology compared to the traditional manufacturing methods. Even though AM processes have many advantages, they also have a series of challenges that need to be addressed to adapt this technology for a wide range of applications and mass production.

AM faces a number of challenges, including the absence of methods/models for determining whether AM is the best manufacturing process for a given part. The first study of this thesis proposes a framework for choosing specific AM processes by considering the complexity level of a part. It has been proven that the method …

Balancing Labor Requirements In A Manufacturing Environment, Patrick Bernard Dwyer

Doctoral Dissertations

“This research examines construction environments within manufacturing facilities, specifically semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and develops a new optimization method that is scalable for large construction projects with multiple execution modes and resource constraints. The model is developed to represent real-world conditions in which project activities do not have a fixed, prespecified duration but rather a total amount of work that is directly impacted by the level of resources assigned. To expand on the concept of resource driven project durations, this research aims to mimic manufacturing construction environments by allowing a non-continuous resource allocation to project tasks. This concept allows for resources …

Operational Planning In Combined Heat And Power Systems, Hariharan Gopalakrishnan

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents methodologies for operational planning in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems. The subject of experimentation is the University of Massachusetts CHP system, which is a 22 MWe/640 MBh system for a district energy application. Systems like this have complex energy flow networks due to multiple interconnected thermodynamic components like gas and steam turbines, boilers and heat recovery steam generators and also interconnection with centralized electric grids. In district energy applications, heat and power requirements vary over 24 hour periods (planning horizon) due to changing weather conditions, time-of-day factors and consumer requirements. System thermal performance is highly dependent …