Risk-Based Threshold on Intensity Function of Repairable Systems: A Case Study on Aero Engines

Abstract

Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities deal with situations where repairable systems and its components are required to be designated as high failure rate components (HFRCs). The shortlisted HFRCs are then selected for reliability improvement. The procedure of short listing components as HFRCs is commonly based on experts’ field experience or number of failures. In case of organizations dealing with complex and critical repairable systems like military aviation (MA) and nuclear industries, the subjectivity in the short listing of HFRCs can lead to prolonged unavailability of equipment and may incur financial loss. Thus, a scientific methodology is required to be developed for HFRC designation. The paper develops a methodology for HFRC designation through risk-based threshold on intensity function by considering combat aircraft engines as a case. To develop the threshold methodology, the paper uses generalized renewal process (GRP) for multiple repairable systems (MRS) considering both corrective and preventive maintenance as imperfect. The proposed methodology is duly validated with the help of field failure data of two variants of the same aero engine of a particular combat aircraft. The developed methodology in this paper is highly inspired by the problems faced by the various industries while operating the repairable systems and can be extended for systems which undergo periodic maintenance, repair and overhaul.