Construction Resource Scheduling with Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

A new approach for resource scheduling using genetic algorithms (GAs) is presented here. The methodology does not depend on any set of heuristic rules. Instead, its strength lies in the selection and recombination tasks of the GA to learn the domain of the specific project network. By this it is able to evolve improved schedules with respect to the objective function. Further, the model is general enough to encompass both resource leveling and limited resource allocation problems unlike existing methods, which are class-dependent. In this paper, the design and mechanisms of the model are described. Case studies with standard test problems are presented to demonstrate the performance of the GA-scheduler when compared against heuristic methods under various resource availability profiles. Results obtained with the proposed model do not indicate an exponential growth in the computational time required for larger problems.