Abstract
Project scheduling is an important part of project planning in many management companies. Resource leveling problem describes the process of reducing the fluctuations in resource usage over the project duration. The goal of resource leveling is to minimize the incremental demands that cause fluctuations of resources, and thus avoid undesirable cyclic hiring and firing during project execution. In this research, a novel optimization model, named as Fuzzy Clustering Chaotic-based Differential Evolution for solving Resource leveling (FCDE-RL), is introduced. Fuzzy Clustering Chaotic-based Differential Evolution (FCDE) is developed by integrating original Differential Evolution with fuzzy c-means clustering and chaotic techniques to tackle complex optimization problems. Chaotic was exploited to prevent the optimization algorithm from premature convergence. Meanwhile, fuzzy c-means clustering acts as several multi-parent crossover operators to utilize the information of the population efficiently to enhance the convergence. Experimental results revealed that the new optimization model is a promising alternative to assist project managers in dealing with construction project resource leveling.
Highlights
In today’s market condition, the survivability of a construction company essentially depends on its capability of managing resources (Karaa, Nasr 1986)
Integrating the fuzzy clustering and chaos algorithms into the Differential Evolution (DE) effectively eliminated the drawbacks of the original DE
Chaos algorithm’s randomness enhanced the population diversity and avoided being trapped at local optima, while fuzzy c-means clustering improved the convergence speed of the search algorithm provided by the moving cluster centers
Summary
In today’s market condition, the survivability of a construction company essentially depends on its capability of managing resources (Karaa, Nasr 1986). Poor resource management may unnecessarily escalate the operational expense or even gives rise to financial and scheduling problems. The excessive requirement of resource in the construction site may lead to the extension of project duration. As the contractor cannot accomplish the project by the pre-specified date, the owner may suffer from financial loss due to the non-availability of the facility (Georgy 2008). Construction delays often bring about disputes among parties, higher overhead costs, degradation of reputation, and occasionally result in project failure (Arditi, Pattanakitchamroon 2006; Assaf, Al-Hejji 2006). Resource management is a crucial task that needs to be implemented thoroughly in the planning phase
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