Applications of fault tree analysis to the design process

Abstract

Fault tree analysis of a system can provide a complete characterization of system failure modes, i.e., what combinations of component failures can give rise to system failure. This can be applied to the design process at several levels: (1) confirmatory analysis, in which a fault tree development is used to verify design adequacy, (2) importance analysis, in which fault tree analysis is used to highlight system vulnerabilities, and (3) design optimization, in which fault tree analysis is used to pick the least expensive configuration from a collection of possibilities satisfying a given constraint. Experience shows that the complexity of real systems warrants the systematic and structured development of fault trees for systems whose failure can have severe consequences.