Finding minimal cut sets in a fault tree

Abstract

This paper presents a new method for identification of minimal cut sets in a fault tree. The (non-minimal) cut sets are found by a modification of the well-known MOCUS algorithm. These cut sets are stored in a virtual tree structure which requires far less core space than the MOCUS cut set matrix. The minimal cut sets are found by traversing this virtual tree a number of times. In the first cycle, all cut sets of order one are identified. In the next cycle, all cut sets of order two are identified and compared with the cut sets of order one to exclude non-minimal stes. This procedure is continued until all minimal cut sets are identified. The procedure is very fast. Compared to the standard MOCUS program the computer time is reduced by at least a factor of ten.