On fault propagation in deterioration of multi-component systems

Abstract

In extant literature, deterioration dependence among components can be modelled as inherent dependence and induced dependence. We find that the two types of dependence may co-exist and interact with each other in one multi-component system. We refer to this phenomenon as fault propagation. In practice, a fault induced by the malfunction of a non-critical component may further propagate through the dependence amongst critical components. Such fault propagation scenario happens in industrial assets or systems (bridge deck, and heat exchanging system). In this paper, a multi-layered vector-valued continuous-time Markov chain is developed to capture the characteristics of fault propagation. To obtain the mathematical tractability, we derive a partitioning rule to aggregate states with the same characteristics while keeping the overall aging behaviour of the multi-component system. Although the detailed information of components is masked by aggregated states, lumpability is attainable with the partitioning rule. It means that the aggregated process is stochastically equivalent to the original one and retains the Markov property. We apply this model on a heat exchanging system in oil refinery company. The results show that fault propagation has a more significant impact on the system's lifetime comparing with inherent dependence and induced dependence.

Failure interaction models for multicomponent systems: a comparative study

“…Liang et al [36] build on the previous work of Liang and Parlikad [37] and Rasmekomen and Parlikad [49] to deal with the issue of fault propagation. They consider that the phenomena of dependences, induced or inherent to (31) P…”

“…Liang et al [36] remark that the current knowledge of fault propagation relies heavily on the expert opinion. This suggests a potential bias which remains to be addressed.…”

An Approach for Ranking of Hospitals Based on Waste Management Practices by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Methodology

“…economic problems, policy evaluation, and urban planning [ 11 ]. These tools are also widely used as a basis for prioritizing investments in safety measures in the chemical industry [ 12 , 13 ]. The AHP tool is used by many researchers in different areas like urban water supply systems, the selection of material suppliers [ 14 , 15 ], environmental impact assessment [ 16 ], environmental vulnerability assessment [ 17 ], energy resources [ 18 ], and environmental impacts of manufacturing [ 19 ].…”

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“…Although this work deals with degradation dependence between components, it does not account for other interfering factors. Liang et al 10 discuss what they refer to as the fault propagation phenomenon. This is described as the co-existence of inherent dependence and induced dependence when considering degradation dependence between components.…”