Availability Analysis of Repairable Mechanical Systems Using Analytical Semi-Markov Approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT The focus of this article is to develop a semi-Markov process-based analytical approach that is faster and more accurate than the simulation approaches used in the existing software programs such as RAPTOR (ARNIC, Annapolis, MD), BlockSim (Reliasoft, Tucson, AZ), etc., for system availability analysis. The steady-state solution of the semi-Markov process (SMP) model provides system availability. For mechanical systems and their components, the degradation rate increases with the aging process. A Weibull distribution for the time to failure is appropriate for such systems. The semi-Markov model does capture dependencies of the repairable system. A steady-state solution was obtained by a two-stage analytical approach, which was validated by Monte Carlo simulation.