A scheduling model of civil aircraft maintenance stand based on spatiotemporal constraints
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 27 July 2023
Issue publication date: 13 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Maintenance stands are the most valuable maintenance resources and provide the necessary maintenance space and maintenance facilities for aircraft maintenance. To expand the maintenance market, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) urgently need to achieve a reasonable schedule between aircraft maintenance requirements and maintenance stand capability to improve aircraft maintenance continuity and reduce the risk of scratching due to aircraft movement. This study aims to design a maintenance stand scheduling (MSS) model based on spatiotemporal constraints to solve the problem of maintenance stand schedules.
Design/methodology/approach
To address the problem of maintenance stand schedules, this study introduces mixed-integer programming algorithm to design the MSS model on the basis of classical hybrid flow shop structure. When designing the optimization objective function of MSS modeling, the spatiotemporal constraints are mainly considered. Specifically, first, the spatial constraints between maintenance stands are fully considered so that more aircraft can be parked in the workshop. Second, the optimization objective is designed to minimize the number of aircraft movements by defining multiple maintenance capabilities of the stand. Finally, a solution based on spatiotemporal constraints is proposed in the solving process.
Findings
A set of MRO production data from Guangzhou is used as a test data set to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MSS model.
Originality/value
The types of maintenance stands are defined and divided into four categories: fixed stand, temporary stand, half-body stand and engine ground test stand, which facilitates optimal modeling; a new scheduling model is designed considering both temporal constraints and spatial constraints, which can improve both the utilization of maintenance stand and safety (reduce the risk of scratching between aircraft).
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editors for their professional suggestions and kind encouragement. This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62173331, in part by the Project of Aviation Science Foundation under Grant 2019ZD067007, in part by the Special Program of Talents Development for Excellent Youth Scholars in Tianjin under Grant TJTZJH-QNBJRC-2–19 and in part by the Scientific Research Project of Tianjin Education Commission under Grant 2018KJ238 and 2020KJ013.
Citation
Liu, G., Guo, R. and Chen, J. (2023), "A scheduling model of civil aircraft maintenance stand based on spatiotemporal constraints", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 95 No. 10, pp. 1518-1530. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-11-2022-0330
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited