Solving Fuzzy Time–Cost Trade-Off in Construction Projects Using Linear Programming

The time–cost trade-off has been recognized as a very significant aspect of construction management. Generally, time–cost trade-off can be modeled as a fuzzy linear programming problem with symmetric or non-symmetric fuzzy numbers. However, it was successfully solved when the fuzzy membership functions are only symmetric. In the present work, a novel approach is introduced to solve fuzzy linear programming problem with non-symmetric fuzzy membership functions by transforming it to its corresponding nearest symmetric one. The transformed problem is then converted to its crisp linear programming problem and then solved by the standard primal simplex method. Two examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and the results are discussed. © 2020, The Institution of Engineers (India).