Increased Resource Utilization Through Sharing as Analyzed Using a
Random Walk with an Absorbing Barrier
Abstract
A computer program was built to model a random walk that represents
utilization of a limited set of items by a group of servers for their
customers. An example is the use of ventelators (items) for very sick
patients (customers) by hospitals (servers). Some hospitals amy run out
of ventilators while others may have extras if a common pool of
ventilators is not employed. The simulation showed a 5% improvement in
one of the cases studied. A theoretical model was developed that
displayed very accurate prediction of the simulation results.