Joint optimization of maintenance inspection and spare provisioning for aircraft deteriorating parts

With the wide application of condition based maintenance (CBM) in aircraft maintenance practice, the joint optimization of maintenance and inventory management, which can take full advantage of CBM and reduce the aircraft operational cost, is receiving increasing attention. In order to optimize the inspection interval, maintenance decision and spare provisioning together for aircraft deteriorating parts, srstly, a joint inventory management strategy is presented, then, a joint optimization of maintenance inspection and spare provisioning for aircraft parts subject to the Wiener degradation process is proposed based on the strategy. Secondly, a combination of the genetic algorithm (GA) and the Monte Carol method is developed to minimize the total cost rate. Finally, a case study is conducted and the proposed joint optimization model is compared with the existing optimization model and the airline real case. The results demonstrate that the proposed model is more benescial and effective. In addition, the sensitivity analysis of the proposed model shows that the lead time has higher influence on the optimal results than the urgent order cost and the corrective maintenance cost, which is consistent with the actual situation of aircraft maintenance practices and inventory management.