Repair resources scheduling for attention of transitory road disruptions in humanitarian aid networks

• Proposal on scheduling repair resources to deal with temporary road disruptions. • Formulation of a mathematical model for the minimization of total repair completion time. • Constraints of precedence and complementarity between limited resources. • Impact on the scheduling of repair resources is based on conditions of the roads. • Interdependence between crews and machinery according to characteristics of road. The paper examines a proposal on scheduling repair resources to deal with temporary road disruptions in humanitarian aid networks. A mathematical model was formulated, which took minimizing the total time of completion of the repair, as well as the arrival and departure times of crews and repair teams, and relations of precedence and complementarity between resources and the availability of resources into consideration. To validate the model, a real case study was used, where a region is presented, which has been affected by floods that generate temporary road disruptions. Finally, a scenario analysis of the model was performed so that the impact on performance related to the variation of parameters of interest, such as the availability of resources, the repair times of the crews, the machine operating times and the expected restoration completion time can be studied. The results showed that the impact on the scheduling of repair resources and the total repair time depends on the required conditions of the roads that are going to be repaired, interdependence, and resources availability. However, the findings indicated that increases beyond resource availability have no effect on the total completion time. Better results can be achieved in total completion time if arrival and completion times of available resources are properly synchronized. This research is a contribution on the importance of relations of precedence in the scheduling for road repair, the interdependence of resources and the special conditions of allocation between crews and type of machinery according to the affected track, and its impact on the completion times of the repair.