Worksheet 4

Systems with series-parallel reliability structure

Problem 1:

We consider a non-redundant system that includes elements that have the continuous
operation probability in a given time interval and the failure probability = 1 − .

a) Prove that for ≪ 1 the reliability function of the system can be approximated with the
relation: ≅1− .

b) If we consider that system reliability is = 0.99, what should be the reliability of the
system components? Calculate this reliability for = 10;

a) = = (1 − ) = 1 − + − + ⋯ + (−1) ≅ 1−

where: − + ⋯ + (−1) ≅ 0 for ≪ 1.

.
b) =1− = 0.99 that implies = 0.01 and =

For = 10 we have: = 10 , = 999

For an exact solution for the problem we have:

!"#.$$
.
= 0.999 ⇔ ln = ln(0.99) ⇒ ln = ⇒ = "

!"#.$$
For = 10 ⇒ = %# = 0.998995.

The estimation error for is 0.000005.

Problem 2:

We consider a system with global redundancy composed of identical elements with parallel
reliability model. The continuous operation of a module in a given time interval is and the
failure probability is = 1 − .

If the reliability of the assembly system is ( = 0.99, what should be the components
reliability? Calculate the reliability for = 2 and = 3.

+ 0.01
( = 1 − (1 − ) = 1 − = 0.99 ⇒ = 0.01 ⇒ + = + 0.01 ⇒ + = ⇒
.
=
!"#.#%
For = 2 we have =1− , = 0.9
!"#.#%
For = 3 we have =1− - = 0.784
Problem 3:

Determine the mean time between failures 0123 for the following structures shown as
reliability graphs.
< <
< <
a) F G c)
< < < <=

b)
< <=
6 6 7% 8 7, 8 6 (7% 97, )8
a) 0123 = 4 (5) = 4 =4 =
7% 97,

7% 8 7, 8 7- 8 7; 8 7% 8 7, 8 7- 8 7; 8 (7% 97, )8 (7- 97; )8

b) : (5) = + − = + −
(7% 97, 97- 97; )8

1 1 1 1
0123: = + − >
< +< < + <= < + < + < + <= < + <
7% 8 7- 8 (7% 97- )8 7, 8 7; 8 (7, 97; )8
c) : (5) =( + − )( + − )
6
After solving the multiplication we can calculate 0123 : = 4 : and obtain:

1 < < 1
0123 : > + + >
< +< (< + <= )(< + < + <= ) (< + < )(< + < + < ) < + <

For = < = < = < = <= = < , 0123 : > 0123:

=
Indeed 0123 : − 0123: = − + =7 = ?7 > 0
7 7

For the structure series-parallel between the input and the output there are four propagation
possibilities while for the parallel-series there are only two.

Let’s consider a system that includes 5 components with the following characteristics:

The cost for @ = @ = @ = 2 and for @= = @A = 3 units

For a given time interval: B = B = B = 0.8 and B= = BA = 0.9

For the non-redundant C = 0.8 ∙ 0.9 = 0.41472 and the cost is = 12.

The system should have the reliability ∗ = 0.95. Therefore, we have to find a solution for
allocate of several spare components in order to ensure the minimum reliability ∗ while
keeping the cost as low as possible.

One solution to this problem is to use active spare units.

Because the reliability for the model in series is < minK L K M for every component we need
to allocate auxiliary resources. The reliability of all parallel subsystems that form the sytem
should have the reliability greater than ∗ . If we denote by NK the number of components of
type F, we impose the condition:
∗
: > ⇔ 1 − 3: = 1 − (1 − BK )OP > ∗
⇔ (1 − BK )OP
∗ ∗
<1− ⇔ NK log(1 − BK ) < log(1 − )

STU ( V∗ )
that gives NK > YYYY.
, F = 1,5
STU ( WP )

Thus:

log (1 − ∗ ) log(1 − 0.95)

N > = = 1.86
log(1 − B ) log (1 − 0.8)

The number of components N = N = N and N= = NA where:

log (1 − ∗ ) log(1 − 0.95)

N= > = = 1.3
log(1 − B ) log (1 − 0.9)

Therefore, for each component we need at least one spare unit.

First attempt to ensure the requested reliability is N = [2,2,2,2,2\ for which:

= = = 1 − (1 − 0.8) = 0.96 and = = A = = 1 − (1 − 0.9) = 0.99.

Therefore the reliability for the redundant system is:

∗
CW = 0.96 ∙ 0.99 = 0.8671 < 0.95 (the value of )

These results imply that for the subsystems with lower reliability more spare modules should
be used.

Because if we add spare units for two of the three modules of first type the reliability:
0.96 ∙ 0.99 < 0.95 for all subsystems with reliability 0.96 we add spare units.

This determines the redundant structure with the needed reliability:

N = [3, 3, 3, 2, 2\

= = = 1 − (1 − 0.8) = 0.992

CW = (0.992) ∙ (0.99) = 0.9567

The system cost is: CW = 30 units.

For the case when we use passive spare units we have:

7% 8
−B = B = B = = 0.8 ⇒ −< 5 = ln 0.8 = 0.22314
 7, ]
B= = BA = = 0.9 ⇒ −< 5 = ln 0.9 = 0.10536

78
For = 2, the parallel structure reliability is ( (5) = (1 + <5)

If we add one spare unit for each component we have:

N = [2, 2, 2, 2, 2\

= = = 0.8 ∙ (1 + 0.22314) = 0.978512

= = A = 0.9 ∙ (1 + 0.10536) = 0.994824

Thus, CW = 0.978512 ∙ 0.994824 = 0.92723 < 0.95