INTEGRATION OF FLEXIBILITY AND CONTROL IN-PROCESS DESIGN

Most design or retrofit focuses on cost savings as the objective. We t reat instead two simultaneous noncompatible objectives: cost and flexi bility, in the design of a process that must be controllable under fut ure uncertainties. By use of an index of operational flexibility and P areto decision theory, a biobjective problem is solved that yields an economical and flexible design. Evaluation of a sequence of possible c ritical input variables can be carried out based on a sensitivity anal ysis of the Lebesque measure of the feasible region of operation with respect to the input, control, and design variables.