Reliability analysis for complex systems based on generalized stochastic petri nets and EDA approach considering common cause failure

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to deal with the problems of failure dependence and common cause failure (CCF) that arise in reliability analysis of complex systems. Design/methodology/approach Firstly, a dynamic fault tree (DFT) is used to capture the dynamic failure behaviours and converted into an equivalent generalized stochastic petri net (GSPN) for quantitative analysis. Secondly, an efficient decomposition and aggregation (EDA) theory is combined with GSPN to deal with the CCF problem, which exists in redundant systems. Finally, Birnbaum importance measure (BIM) is calculated based on the EDA approach and GSPN model, and it is used to take decisions for system improvement and fault diagnosis. Findings In this paper, a new reliability evaluation method for dynamic systems subject to CCF is presented based on the DFT analysis and the GSPN model. The GSPN model is easy to capture dynamic failure behaviours of complex systems, and the movement of tokens in the GSPN model represent the changes in the state of the systems. The proposed method takes advantage of the GSPN model and incorporates the EDA method into the GSPN, which simplifies the reliability analysis process. Meanwhile, simulation results under different conditions show that CCF has made a considerable impact on reliability analysis for complex systems, which indicates that the CCF should not be ignored in reliability analysis. Originality/value The proposed method combines the EDA theory with the GSPN model to improve the efficiency of the reliability analysis.

Optimal fault diagnosis strategy for complex systems considering common cause failure under epistemic uncertainty

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A reliability analysis technique for complex systems with retaining fuzzy information

“…The conversion from dynamic and static gates to corresponding GSPN structures can be found in our previous work. 39,40 Step2: Based on the interconnection between the gates in the DFT model, the 𝐺𝐷 is constructed by linking all the subnets 𝑆 using directed arcs. Step3: For the parts of the system failure behaviors that cannot be modeled by DFT, the GSPN model 𝐺𝐶 = (𝑃 𝐺𝐶 , 𝑇 𝐺𝐶 , 𝐴 𝐺𝐶 , 𝑀 0,𝐺𝐶 , 𝑅 𝐺𝐶 ) is construct directly.…”

A reliability modeling method for the system subject to common cause failures and competing failures

“…In this paper, the DFT is quantified by corresponding GSPN. The conversions of GSPN to DFT are studied in our previous work 30 . Figure 5 exhibits the DFT gates and corresponding GSPN model.…”