Optimisation Techniques for Managing the Project Sustainability Objective: Application to a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Juan José Cartelle Barros, Manuel Lara Coira, María Pilar de la Cruz López, Alfredo del Caño Gochi and Isabel Soares
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Juan José Cartelle Barros: Escuela Politécnica Superior (EPS), Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Campus de Esteiro, C/Mendizábal s/n, 15403 Ferrol (A Coruña), Spain
Manuel Lara Coira: Departamento de Ciencias de la Navegación e Ingeniería Marina, Escuela Politécnica Superior (EPS), Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Campus de Esteiro, C/Mendizábal s/n, 15403 Ferrol (A Coruña), Spain
María Pilar de la Cruz López: Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Escuela Politécnica Superior (EPS), Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Campus de Esteiro, C/Mendizábal s/n, 15403 Ferrol (A Coruña), Spain
Alfredo del Caño Gochi: Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Escuela Politécnica Superior (EPS), Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Campus de Esteiro, C/Mendizábal s/n, 15403 Ferrol (A Coruña), Spain
Isabel Soares: Research Centre on Economics and Finance (CEFUP) and Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Rua Dr Roberto Frias S/n, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: In addition to traditional project management objectives (cost, time, scope and quality, among others), it is now necessary to include a global sustainability objective in all projects, regardless of their nature and scale. The processes for managing this objective may include sub-processes for optimising the sustainability of some or all of the project’s deliverables. In this paper an integrated optimisation technique was applied to optimise the design of a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) by taking into account economic, social and environmental indicators. A case study previously analysed in the literature, although with different objectives and scope, was considered for such a purpose. Diverse sets of weights were defined for the environmental impacts, as well as two additional cases. In the first one, all the indicators where assessed in a linear way. Non-linearities were studied in the second one. Both non-nature-inspired (exhaustive search and Monte Carlo simulation) and nature-inspired (Particle Swarm Optimisation, Crow Search Algorithm and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II) optimisation techniques were used to solve the problem. The results were presented and discussed in depth. The findings show the necessity of applying these kinds of methodologies in the design of energy systems and, in particular, STHEs.

Keywords: project management; global sustainability objective; engineering problem; sustainability optimisation; shell and tube heat exchanger; optimisation techniques; nature-inspired algorithms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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