Behavior

How do entities make decision?

The entities of the model 'decide' by performing actions. An action is certain operation that occurs instantaneously and is formulated by dictating the value of all the decision variables related to such actions.

Take for example a maintenance action. This action's execution is a responsibility of the Agent. The formulation of some maintenance action is done by determining the value of two variables: (1) the time of the maintenance action and (2) the performance goal of the maintenance action (the performance level that the infrastructure system will attain once the maintenance work is completed).

In order to allow the entities of the model to display a rich range of behavior, the following structure was devised:

• Faculties
• Strategies
• Decision rules
• Decision variables

The behavior of agents is specified by a nested structure of actions, strategies and decision rules, like this:

• Agent
  • Faculty
    • Strategy
      • Decision rule

Directory

The following is the structure tree that comprises the behavior of all the agents in the model

• +agent
  • MandatoryMaint
  • VoluntaryMaint
• +principal
  • ContractOffer
  • Inspection
  • PenaltyFee
• +nature
  • Shock

The second folders in the hierarchy (MandatoryMaint, Shock, etc) are the faculties. Each of them contain class definitions of the Strategies and Rules they implement.

Actions

Any action is defined by a set of decision variables that take certain fixed values. Types of actions:

• Inspection
• Voluntary maintenance
• Mandatory maintenance
• Shock
• Penalty

Inspection