An analysis of maintenance schedules for public facilities

Abstract

We present a flexible, formal framework for maintenance scheduling for public facilities. Key features of the model include an accelerating deterioration scheme, a general utility measure, and real estate market effects in the salvage function. The model is rich enough to capture a range of stylistic scenarios pertaining to public facilities while remaining simple enough to allow formal analysis of the optimal maintenance schedule. Based on our analysis, we draw a phase diagram that classifies the generic behavior of the optimal solution. We illustrate our analysis in numerical examples that highlight essential trade-offs and the time dependence of the facility maintenance problem. Under simplifying assumptions, we also derive the basics of an exact solution.