Binary Resource Leveling Model: Activity Splitting Allowed

Abstract

The resource leveling problem is common and has been studied numerous times. In these studies and the resulting solutions, there exists a common element, which is once an activity is started, it cannot be stopped and restarted again. That is, it cannot be split. In many instances in actual construction, there exist activities that can be stopped and restarted. However, not all activities have this characteristic. This paper presents a linear program binary variable model to level resources that permits selected activities to stop and restart. This splitting of activities results in improvement to the leveling solution that is traditionally achieved when splitting is not permitted. Examples are presented that illustrate the improvement in the solution obtained from the proposed model compared to models that do not allow splitting and compares the result to that obtained using commercially available software. The results are beneficial to construction professionals who may be unaware of the impacts of using activity splitting.