Strategic life cycle decision-making for the management of complex Systems subject to uncertain environmental policy

The optimal design and maintenance strategy for time-dependent environmental compliance can be determined via the use of a sequential decision-making framework known as a Markov decision process (MDP). The purpose of the presented research is to demonstrate the application of a non-stationary MDP to the design and maintenance decisions of a ship that must consider ballast water exchange and treatment policy changes. Research efforts outline the preliminary approach, outcomes, and conclusions resulting from the use of a MDP to model life cycle decisions.