Optimization of system reliability in the presence of common cause failures

Abstract

The redundancy allocation problem is formulated with the objective of maximizing system reliability in the presence of common cause failures. These types of failures can be described as events that lead to simultaneous failure of multiple components due to a common cause. When common cause failures are considered, component failure times are not independent. This new problem formulation offers several distinct benefits compared to traditional formulations of the redundancy allocation problem. For some systems, recognition of common cause failure events is critical so that the overall system reliability estimation and associated design resembles the true system reliability behavior realistically. Since common cause failure events may vary from one system to another, three different interpretations of the reliability estimation problem are presented. This is the first time that mixing of components together with the inclusion of common cause failure events has been addressed in the redundancy allocation problem. Three non-linear optimization models are presented. Solutions to three different problem types are obtained. They support the position that consideration of common cause failures will lead to different and preferred “optimal” design strategies.