Marcel Burkhalter

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Burkhalter

First Name

Marcel

ORCID

0000-0003-3017-1751

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Publications 1 - 10 of 29

Determining optimal work-zones on large infrastructure networks in a geographic information system
Lethanh, Nam; Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel (2016)
Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Infrastructure Asset Management (SIAM 2016)
A Network Flow Model Approach to Determining Optimal Intervention Programs for Railway Infrastructure Networks
Burkhalter, Marcel; Adey, Bryan T. (2018)
Infrastructures
The determination of the optimal interventions to execute on rail infrastructure networks is a challenging task, due to the many types of objects (e.g., bridges, tracks, and switches), how the objects work together to provide service, and the possible reductions in costs and service disruptions as obtained by grouping interventions. Although railway infrastructure managers are using computer systems to help them determine intervention programs, there are none that result in the highest net benefits while taking into consideration all of these aspects. This paper presents a network flow model approach that allows for determining the optimal intervention programs for railway infrastructure networks while taking into considerations different types of objects, how the objects work together to provide service, and object and object-traffic dependencies. The network flow models are formulated as mixed integer linear programs, where the optimal intervention program is found by using the simplex and branch and bound algorithms. The modelling approach is illustrated by using it to determine the optimal intervention program for a 2200 m multi-track railway line consisting of 11 track sections, 23 switches, and 39 bridges. It is shown that the proposed constrained network flow model can be used to determine the optimal intervention program within a reasonable amount of time, when compared to more traditional models and search algorithms.
Consideration of intervention-free periods when determining intervention programs
Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel (2022)
Digitalizing the Determination of Railway Infrastructure Intervention Programs: A Network Optimization Model
Burkhalter, Marcel; Adey, Bryan T. (2022)
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
One area of railway infrastructure management that can benefit greatly from digitalization is the determination of optimal intervention programs, i.e., when, where, and which type of interventions are to be executed. The potential benefit is considerable because of the large variety of assets required for the infrastructure to function as intended, the interconnectedness of the assets, the extensive number of different types of possible interventions, and the wide range of service measures to consider when deciding between different intervention programs - all of which are difficult, if not impossible, to consider qualitatively. In this paper, a network flow optimization model is presented that determines the optimal intervention program considering different types of assets, interventions and service measures to execute the interventions, the dependencies between interventions, and the relation between interventions and service in the short and long term. The model is developed and used to determine the intervention program that maximizes the net benefit for a 17-km railway line over a 12-year planning period, divided into three four-year blocks. The example demonstrates that the model can be used to determine optimal intervention programs on real-world railway networks, taking into consideration the intervention costs and relevant measures of service, the interrelationships between the different assets, and multiple time periods. It also demonstrates that the model is a powerful management tool for leveraging the digitalization of railway infrastructure.
An initial example of how optimal interval – intervention programs for railway lines can be obtained and illustration of the effect of the imposition of closure-free periods
Burkhalter, Marcel; Adey, Bryan T. (2021)
Required accuracy of information when determining optimal railway intervention programmes
Burkhalter, Marcel; Adey, Bryan T. (2022)
Infrastructure Asset Management
Over the past decade, there has been a notable increase in mathematical models for determining optimal intervention programmes - that is, those with the highest net benefits. These increasingly sophisticated models rely on an increasing amount of accurate infrastructure information, which is often not available for infrastructure managers. They are, therefore, confronted with the question of which data they should collect and what accuracy these have to have in order that intervention programmes determined with sophisticated optimisation model are reliably optimal. In this paper, it is shown how infrastructure managers can estimate the required information accuracy when determining optimal railway intervention programmes. The required accuracy of the input information is defined by determining the ranges of values over which (a) the optimal intervention programme does not change, (b) the optimal intervention programmes can be considered similar and (c) the net benefit obtained by an intervention programme can be considered near optimal. The ranges are determined for one variable at a time considering the estimated values of the infrastructure manager as default values. The method is illustrated for a railway line in Switzerland using a constrained network flow model to determine the optimal intervention programmes.
DESTination RAIL – D3.6 A risk assessment methodology for railway infrastructure networks
Papathanasiou, Natalia; Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel; et al. (2018)
Defining and Quantifying Railway Service to Plan Infrastructure Interventions
Papathanasiou, Natalia; Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel (2019)
Infrastructure Asset Management
Railway networks are constructed, maintained and developed to provide service to stakeholders. The timing of infrastructure interventions depends on the costs of intervening and the risks of not intervening. Determining the optimal trade-off requires a rigorous definition of the service provided and a way to quantify it. In this paper, such a definition and method of service quantification for the railway infrastructure is provided. Service is defined as a function of how every stakeholder is affected by the changes in the state of the railway infrastructure. It is quantified by estimating the value of each unit of service provided. This definition of service enables the quantification of railway service for all the affected stakeholders when the infrastructure state improves – for example, due to maintenance – or deteriorates – for example, due to fatigue.
Benders decomposition to accelerate determination of optimal railway intervention programmes
Mehranfar, Hamed; Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel; et al. (2023)
Infrastructure Asset Management
An important task of railway asset managers is to develop intervention programmes. These interventions need to be developed considering network-level synergies and constraints, in addition to the condition of the assets and their optimal intervention strategies. Considering these concerns may lead to executing interventions earlier or later than specified in asset intervention strategies to reach optimality. Synergies include the fact that the simultaneous execution of more than one intervention disrupts train movements only once. Constraints include budget limits and not closing parallel lines simultaneously. Although many railway asset managers currently determine intervention programmes in a rather qualitative iterative fashion, there is an increasing interest in exploiting digitalisation to improve the process. This interest has led to a rise in research focused on the development of mixed-integer linear programs to determine optimal programmes more efficiently and effectively. These powerful models, however, still have issues with complicated intervention planning problems, making their use slower than desired. This paper investigates the potential use of Benders decomposition to accelerate the determination of optimal railway intervention programmes for 2.2 km of the Irish Rail network. It is found that the optimal intervention programme is up to 30% faster for the studied example.
Determining an optimal set of work zones on large infrastructure networks in a GIS framework
Lethanh, Nam; Adey, Bryan T.; Burkhalter, Marcel (2018)
Journal of Infrastructure Systems

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Marcel Burkhalter

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