Author(s): Jassim M. Alshemmare, Basial Ali
Many construction projects consume a significant amount of reinforcing steel bar (rebar). They require the provision of this steel in different specified sizes and lengths according to the construction design. The cutting processes incur significant trim loss which is considered as waste, one of the losses that increase the cost of the project. Therefore, the “TLP is one of the most challenging issues in the context of optimisation research. The aim is to determine the optimal cutting pattern of items of various lengths from a stock of standard size material to meet the customers” needs, such that the wastage due to trim loss is minimised.
In this research a mathematical model and procedure has been developed to arrange cut plans with the minimum loss to address the TLP. The integer linear programming technique is applied to generate the optimal stock procurement plan and the cutting plan for each alternative layout arrangement for a particular structural component. The programme and the approach have been evaluated using data from ten multi-storey buildings constructed in recent years in Bahrain. The results clearly show that the proposed methodology and the developed programme are capable of producing solutions in terms of reducing wastage and lowering total cost, due to the identification of the optimal cutting layout. The results of the study have a significant impact on the amount of steel wasted and thus on the cost of the projects.