Handbook of Real-World Applications in Modeling and Simulation

Chapter Five

Operations Research

Andrew J. Collins

Christine S.M. Currie

5.1 Introduction and Learning Objectives

The simple goal of operations research (OR) is to give analytical support to decision-makers. To achieve this goal, operations researchers have a collection of analytical techniques available to them. These analytical techniques include problem structuring methods (PSM), queuing theory, decision analysis, game theory, and optimization; all of these techniques are discussed in this chapter.

One other technique available to an operations researcher is modeling and simulation (M&S) as it provides an excellent means to explore and evaluate systems of interest, and it provides a way of explaining any conclusions to a layman via visualization. Usually, this process involves including M&S within some OR process; however, there are examples where the two approaches are held distinctly separate (1). This relationship between OR and M&S is not one way: modelers also use OR techniques and algorithms within their simulations, usually to perform some function within the simulation, for example, queues. This chapter focuses on the latter relationship as its readership is expected to come from the M&S community. Thus, the focus of this chapter is to give an introduction to various OR techniques that might be practically implemented within a simulation.

With the exception of “soft” OR, which will be discussed later, OR is mainly a quantitative subject and relies heavily on mathematics, ...