A summary of maintenance policies for a finite interval

It would be an important problem to consider practically some maintenance policies for it finite time span, because the working times of most units are finite in actual fields. This paper converts the usual maintenance models to finite maintenance models. It is more difficult to study theoretically optimal policies for it finite time span than those for an infinite time span. Three usual models of periodic replacement with minimal repair, block replacement and simple replacement are transformed to finite replacement models. Further, optimal periodic and sequential policies for an imperfect preventive maintenance and an inspection model for it finite time span are considered. Optimal policies for each model are analytically derived and are numerically computed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.