Comparative analysis of some reliability characteristics between two dissimilar redundant systems with replacement at common cause failure

Abstract

In this paper, probabilistic models for two dissimilar redundant systems with replacement at each common cause failure have been developed to analyze and compare some reliability characteristics. Two configurations are studied under the assumption that each system is replaced at the occurrence of common cause failure. Configuration I is a 3-out-of-4 cold standby system, while configuration II is 3-out-of-5 cold standby system. Explicit expressions for mean time to system failure (MTSF), steady-state availability, busy period and profit function for the three models are analyzed using Kolmogorov’s forward equations method. Comparisons are performed for specific values of system parameters. Furthermore, we compare these reliability characteristics for the two configurations and find that configuration II is more reliable and efficient than configuration I.