Example Configuration for Pavement Analyst

The table provided below highlights the salient features for each of the analysis type and outlines the typical configuration necessary to run an analysis.

Worst First
Most Suited Scenarios	Fix the worst highway sections in the network under a constrained budget on a year-by-year basis. Gives short term solutions.
Year of Condition Data	Select the year prior to the first year in WP
Analysis Length	Length of analysis period
Decision Tree Set	Anything but incremental benefit (INCBEN) decision trees
Round Cost	Rounding to integer (choose 1) is recommended
Analysis Scope	Optional, the user may or may not restrict the analysis to certain segments of the highway network
Objective	The problem must have an objective function. The constraint column in the objective function determines the precedence among sections for receiving maintenance treatments. It should be noted that the objective function is not used for optimization.
Constraint	Constraint must include treatment cost, or else the problem will be unbounded leading the system to throw an error.
Reporting Functions	Optional; depends on user preferences
Prioritization
Most Suited Scenarios	Fix the sections in the highway network based on priority ratings which are determined based on a variety of factors on a year-by-year basis. Provides short-term solutions. Note: In the simplest case where the priority is determined by a single PI, the results obtained thereof will be identical to those obtained from a worst-first scenario where the same PI is selected as the objective in the worst-first scenario.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Decision Tree Set	Same as before
Round Cost	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Objective Function	Although the user can specify an objective function, the system will overlook the objective function as the priority among pavement sections is determined by the priority weight groovy.
Constraint	Constraint must include treatment cost, or else the problem will be unbounded leading the system to throw an error.
Reporting Functions	Same as before
Ranking
Most Suited Scenarios	Problem is solved discrete in time; yields short-term near-optimal solutions. Examples: Maximize network condition under constrained budget Minimize treatment cost to maintain network at a certain condition level. Note: Single constraint analysis that aims on maximizing benefit-cost ratio. One can include existing WP in the analysis to update network condition before determination of treatment options for pavement sections.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Decision Tree Set	Same as before
Round Cost	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Objective Function	The constraint column in the objective function is used to determine the benefits or the cost in the optimization procedure.
Constraint	The constraint column defines the cost or the benefits used for calculation of benefit-cost ratio in the optimization procedure. Problem can have a single constraint. Either the constraint or the objective function should include treatment cost to facilitate calculation of benefit-cost ratio.
Reporting Functions	Same as before
Multi-Constraint
Most Suited Scenarios	Multi constraint analysis. Problem is solved discrete in time, yielding short-term optimal solutions. Examples: Maximize network condition s.t. Fixed budget #% of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘x’ Minimize treatment cost s.t. Average PI across the network >= ‘y’ #% of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘x’ Maximize RSL s.t. Fixed budget #% of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘z’ Note: One can include existing work plan in the analysis to update network condition prior to determination of treatment options for pavement sections.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Decision Tree Set	A standard or an incremental benefit decision tree may be selected. In case an incremental benefit tree is selected, the system will evaluate three potential treatment options and select the one that offers the highest benefit-cost ratio.
Work Plan Type	The selection of the work plan determines the current network conditions prior to evaluation of the individual sections in determining the treatment option most suited for the individual pavement sections. However, if the user chooses not to select any work plan type, it would be equivalent to running a Treatment scenario in the absence of any existing work plan.
MWP Scope	The user may select to restrict the list of projects included from an existing WP based on certain filter criteria.
Round Cost	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Objective	The objective function determines the goal of the analysis scenario. In case of a Multi-Constraint Analysis, the user may include multiple objectives within the same problem domain. An example of this type can be as given below: Maximize PI_{Alligator Cracking} and Maximize PI_OPQI s.t. Constrained maintenance budget, and Average RSL across the network >= ‘x’ years
Constraint	The constraint columns along with the constraint limit values define the problem domain.
Reporting Functions	Same as before
Strategy
Most Suited Scenarios	The solution to the problem yields the optimal treatment strategy across all years included in the analysis period. Examples: Maximize network condition s.t. Fixed budget # % of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘x’ Minimize treatment cost s.t. Average PI across the network >= ‘y’ # % of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘x’ Maximize RSL s.t. Fixed budget # % of the highway sections with PI higher than ‘z’
Notes	The optimal treatment strategy provides the best long-term solution across the entire analysis timeframe. The user will need to pre-calculate strategies to obtain the treatment choices available for every individual section included in the analysis (Section Strategies). The optimization routine will determine the optimal treatment strategy for every individual section included in the analysis. The user will need to include a “Do Nothing” scenario for every individual section such that the system does not enforce a maintenance treatment on a section that does not need one. Due to the fact that the treatment strategies are calculated prior to execution of the analysis scenario, should there be a change in any of the instruments that govern the decision variables; the treatment strategies would require rebuilding. The strategy analysis precludes any existing MWP. Should the user need to take any existing MWP into consideration, one should refer to the “Strategy with WP”.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Decision Tree Set	Anything but incremental benefit decision trees.
General Strategy Type	The selection of strategy type determines the list of strategies that will be used as candidates in the optimization routine.
Work Plan Type	Not used (the system will not use any work plan even if it is selected)
Round Cost	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Objective Function	The objective function determines the goal of the analysis scenario. A particular scenario may include one or more objective functions, as illustrated earlier for Multi-Constraint Analysis scenarios.
Constraint	The constraint columns along with the constraint limit values define the problem domain.
Reporting Functions	Same as before
Strategy with Master Work Plan
Most Suited Scenarios	Same as before
Notes	The purpose of “strategy with WP” is similar to that of “strategy”, except that it provides the ability to take into consideration existing WP. This implies that the network conditions as well as the strategies are computed when the scenario is analyzed. Therefore, with this type of analysis, changes made to decision trees or performance models or treatments are reflected on the strategies instantaneously.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Decision Tree Set	Anything but incremental benefit decision trees.
Work Plan Type	The selection of the work plan determines the current network conditions prior to evaluation of the individual sections for recommended treatment options. However, if the user prefers not to select a work plan, it would be equivalent to running a “strategy” analysis with the strategy calculation happening at the time the analysis scenario is processed.
MWP Scope	The user may select to restrict the work plan scope based on the available filters.
General Strategy Type	Same as before
Round Cost	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Objective Function	Same as before
Constraint	Same as before
Reporting Functions	Same as before
Estimate MWP Influence
Notes	In principle, the analysis does not yield a work plan for the planned period. It helps the user analyze the effect of an existing WP on the network condition and hence determine the network condition for the years included in the analysis.
Year of Condition Data	Same as before
Analysis Length	Same as before
Work Plan Type	The selection of the work plan defines the M&R projects that will be undertaken in each of the years included as part of the analysis period and hence determines the network condition for the respective years.
MWP Scope	Same as before
Analysis Scope	Same as before
Reporting Functions	Same as before

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