Multi-objective redundancy allocation problem for a system with repairable components considering instantaneous availability and strategy selection

Abstract

Many Studies have been conducted on Redundancy Allocation Problem (RAP), but only a few of them have considered designing systems which operate for a certain period of time. Such temporary systems are not meant to operate for a long period of time (e.g. a manufacturing cell designed to produce a unique product with a small window of opportunity). Due to this fact, the investigation of the reliability at an infinite time will not be helpful; instead designing a system which perform optimally in a short period of time is of importance. additionally RAP's are inherently complex and classified as NP-Hard, as a result most proposed approaches, consider a set of simplified assumptions. Among these assumptions are the calculation of availability in the steady state (a time in which a system becomes completely stable), the use of non-repairable components, and setting predetermined configuration strategy (parallel, cold or warm standby subsystems). Unfortunately, these simplified assumptions do not conform to the real world conditions. Therefore, this article intends to develop an integrated algorithm to solve the reliability design problem considering instantaneous availability, repairable components, and the selection of configuration strategies based on the Markov processes and NSGA-II algorithm.