Availability optimization with genetic algorithm

This paper presents an availability optimization problem of an engineering system assembled in a series configuration which has the redundancy of units and teams of maintenance as optimization parameters. The objective is to reach the maximum value of availability, considering installation and maintenance costs, weight, volume and available maintenance teams as constraints. The optimization method uses a genetic algorithm (GA), which is based on biological concepts of species evolution. It is a robust method, because it does not converge to a local optimum. It does not need the use of differential calculus, facilitating the computational implementation. The final results are significantly indicative about the fitting of the GA parameters and the application of the methodology to solve engineering design problems involving systems availability.