Optimal availability of failure‐prone systems under imperfect maintenance actions

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of a system stationary availability and determine the optimal preventive maintenance period, which maximises it in a context where preventive and corrective maintenance actions are imperfect and have non‐negligible durations.Design/methodology/approach – The quasi‐renewal process approach and a (p, q) rule are respectively used to model corrective and preventive maintenance. Considering the durations of the preventive and corrective maintenance actions as well as their respective efficiency extents, a mathematical model and a numerical algorithm are developed in order to compute the system stationary availability.Findings – It has been proven that for any given situation regarding the system, the repair and preventive maintenance efficiency extents, and the downtime durations for preventive and corrective maintenance, there is necessarily a finite optimal period T* of preventive maintenance which maximises the system stationary availability. A ...