Life Cycle Cost Value Research Articles

To The Question Of Evaluation And Use Of Life Cycle Cost Of Engineering Products

Purpose. Development of methodical approaches to the valuation of the product lifecycle in engineering and construction criterion of selection of engineering products based on life cycle cost of the product. Method. The life cycle is understood as a set of interrelated processes of successive changes in the state of the product from research to the termination of its operation and utilization. Element of the cost of the product life cycle is understood as the financial equivalent of the costs associated with a specific process of life cycle of the product. Methodically determining the value of the product life cycle is based on discounting the predicted values of the elements of the life cycle for a period equal to the duration of the life cycle. Results. Economically sound decision regarding the selection of product innovation from the perspective of consumer, it is possible to make use of the cost index of life cycle of the product. Life cycle cost is defined as the sum of the current values of the elements of the product life cycle, all of which are the financial equivalent of the costs associated with a specific process of life cycle of the product. When determining life-cycle costs for comparison of products must use the same conditions regarding price level, discount rate and discount period. Selection criterion of the suggestions of the manufacturer (the developer) is the lowest value of life cycle cost of the product, subject to its determination for the same period of discounting, the same level price, under the condition of equality of the discount rate and comparability of the performance of the considered products. If not provided comparability in these conditions, a comparison of the life cycle cost does not ensure the selection of the most effective option. If the duration of the life cycle of the considered products is different, comparability the period of discounting can be achieved by comparing the current value of life cycles that repeat in time, which is equal to the least common multiple of the duration of the life cycle of the studied products. The comparability of price level adjustment is provided by the life cycle cost index method. The difference in performance of products is taken into account by comparison in terms of the specific life cycle cost per unit of performance, which is defined as the ratio of the value of the product life cycle to its performance. Scientific innovation. The work improved the criterion of the comparative economic efficiency of innovations on the basis of the comparison of life-cycle costs of products, which, in contrast to existing, provides comparability of variants on the period of discounting, price level and performance, which allows to use the indicator life cycle cost of the product for comparison of vehicles with different service life and different performance. Practical significance. The developed methodical approaches can be used to select the most attractive proposals of producers or industrial developers of products for tenders on the stages of determining the developer’s innovative product engineering or the definition of vendor engineering products. They can also use the innovative product development to select the best technical solutions and for other purposes.

Economic Analysis of Buried Corrugated Steel Culverts Considering Deterioration

The characteristics of the corrugated steel culvert and the deterioration of the structure are analyzed. The Life Cycle Cost (LCC) approach is put forward to analysis the initial, maintenance and recycling cost of the different material culverts. The user delay costs are added to the typical LCC values considering the deterioration and the failure of structures. The analysis and the economic comparison results show that the total LCC values at the failure emergency situation is much larger than the situation when the deterioration is considered initiatively. Such economic analysis can help the project decision makers better understand the risks associated with deterioration and failure. The inspection and maintenance schedule should be formulated considering the culvert size, the environment in which the culvert is placed, and the characteristics of the soil and the backfill.

A STUDY ON LIFE-CYCLE COST EVALUATION OF SHOTCRETING SLOPES

Shotcrete is applied in many locations on highways with cut slopes. Most of them have more than 30 years in service, and deteriorations such as cracking and bulging occurred frequently. The numbers of slopes which need preventive maintenance are so many that the effective way has been desired to decide the time of repair. However, it is difficult to establish uniformly a standard of repair of surface separation and back cavitations for shotcrete slopes because each slope has its complicated conditions of the slope geology and the natural environment. Therefore, attention is focused on the cause of deterioration of the performance of shotcrete slopes. In this study, we suggest the decrease in cohesion of the ground caused the deterioration. The evaluation of we propose life-cycle-cost (LCC) estimation methodology based on yearly probability of failure using the surface failure model for shotcreting slopes. The LCC value would be an important index for establishing the methodology of repair planning, and it would be quite useful to explain the effectiveness of preventive maintenance during the healthier condition of structure.

A financial evaluation of renewable energy technologies for water pumping in rural areas

SYNOPSIS A financial analysis and comparison of various renewable energy resource-technology combinations for water pumping in rural areas has been undertaken. The options include solar photovoltaic pumping systems, biogas and producer gas driven dual-fuel IC engine pumpsets and windmill pumps. The three figures of merit used to facilitate comparison of the renewable options with conventional pumping systems such as diesel engine and electric motor pumpsets are the cost per unit volume of water pumped, cost incurred per unit useful hydraulic energy and the present value of life cycle costs over a given period of time. Sensitivity of one of these figures of merit to the uncertainties in the values of some of the input parameters has also been studied.

Satellite reliability requirements: Effect of transportation system, sparing and maintenance strategies

Mission requirements are frequently specified in terms of required sensor availability over a specified mission duration. Availability is the probability that at least a specified number of sensors will be operational when required. The objective is to design, develop and select that system which minimizes the present value of life cycle cost (and risk) and satisfies mission requirements, including sensor availability. Since sensor availability is a function of overall satellite configuration (including redundancy), sparing and maintenance strategies, and transportation system reliability, standdown time when failures occur, and availability, it is necessary to consider the many complex interrelationships that exist when configuring a satellite. In fact, satellite design characteristics should be established by considering the interactions of satellite configuration, sparing and maintenance and transportation system alternatives. This paper deals with the effect that alternative sparing and maintenance strategies and transportation systems have on the requirements that must be imposed upon satellite subsystem reliability. The Satellite Cost and Availability Model, SATCAV (which is used to perform the analysis) is briefly described and examples are presented that indicate the influence that transportation choice, sparing and maintenance strategies have on the requirements that must be imposed on satellite design parameters in order to meet availability constraints. Typical relationships are developed between availability and life cycle cost as a function of sparing strategy, transportation system and satellite reliability characteristics, and other pertinent parameters.