where x = {x 1 , x 2 , …, x p } and each x i denotes the i-th decision
variable (i-th alternative).
A variety of approaches implemented in efficient
mathematical programming software can be used to solve such
problems [16].
One widely used in economics and resource management
approach to evaluate maintenance alternatives is cost-benefit
analysis [16], [17]. The cost-benefit analysis is estimation of
marginal benefit of increasing investment for a given
repair/replace demand, or willingness to pay and it decreases
with increasing effort or expenditure on failure prevention.