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Quadratic representation for roadway profile that minimizes earthwork cost

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Abstract

Roadway design usually involves choices regarding grade selection and earthwork (transportation) that can be solved using linear programming. Previous work considered the road profile as series of interconnected linear segments. In these models, constraints are included in the linear programming formulation to insure continuity of the road, which cause sharp connectivity points at the intersection of the linear segments. This sharp connectivity needs to be smoothed out after the linear programming solution is found and the earth in the smoothed portion of the roadway has to be moved to the landfill. In previous research, the smoothing issue is dealt with after an optimal solution is found. This increases the work required by the design engineer and consequently increases the construction cost; furthermore, the optimal solution is violated by this smoothing operation. In this paper, the issue of sharp connectivity points is resolved by representing the road profile by a quadratic function. The continuity constraints are dropped (unneeded) and global optimality is guaranteed. Moreover, no violation is incurred to implement the optimum results. Although a quadratic function is used to represent the road profile, the mathematical model is purely linear in nature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial & System Engineering, Kuwait University, P. Box 5969, Safat, 13060, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad A. Moreb & Mohammad S. Aljohani

  2. Department of Nuclear Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad A. Moreb & Mohammad S. Aljohani

Authors
  1. Ahmad A. Moreb
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  2. Mohammad S. Aljohani
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Additional information

Ahmad A. Moreb is a visiting professor in the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at Kuwait University. Prior to this he held the position of a Director of Academic Affairs, College of Engineering and a Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering at King A. Aziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). He has a BS (1978) in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona, an MS (1981) in electrical engineering from the University of California (Irvine) and a PhD (1988) in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is a member in both, the honor society for American Industrial Engineers, Alpha Pi Mu and the honor society for American Engineers, Tau Beta Pi. Major research area include optimization, resource allocation, quality cost analysis and reliability engineering.

Mohammed S. Aljohani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at King AbdulAziz University. He has a BS (1983) in civil engineering from King AbdulAziz University, an MS (1985) in Nuclear Engineering from King Saud University and a PhD (1996) in Nuclear Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a member of The American Nuclear Society and The American Society for Quality. Major research areas include optimization, nuclear desalination, radiation detection and measurements, computational fluid dynamics and variance reduction.

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Moreb, A.A., Aljohani, M.S. Quadratic representation for roadway profile that minimizes earthwork cost. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 13, 245–252 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-0163-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-0163-1

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