Multinary Systems and Reliability Models from Coherence to some Kind of Non - Coherence

FIRST RESTRICTED TO MODELS FOR BINARY SYSTEMS, RELIABILITY THEORY IS BEING GENERALIZED FOR MULTINARY SYSTEMS OF MULTINARY COMPONENTS (I.E. WHICH CAN ASSUME A FINITE NUMBER OF PERFORMANCE LEVELS RANGING FROM THE "COMPLETE FAILURE" UP TO THE "PERFECT FUNCTIONING"). AFTER A GENERAL VIEWPOINT ON RELIABILITY MODELS FOR MULTINARY SYSTEMS, COHERENCE GENERALIZATIONS ARE EXAMINED. FIRST STUDIED IN TERMS OF STRUCTURE FUNCTIONS, THE BINARY COHERENT SYSTEMS CAN BE FULLY CHARACTERIZED IN TERMS OF THEIR MINIMAL PATH (CUT) SETS AS WELL AS IN TERMS OF THEIR LIFE FUNCTIONS. THESE THREE BASIC DETERMINISTIC TREATMENTS ARE BRIEFLY REVIEWED AND FULLY GENERALIZED FOR THE MULTINARY CASE. THE (N+1)-LEVEL BROAD-SENSE COHERENT SYSTEMS ARE FIRST CONSIDERED. VARIOUS FUNDAMENTAL NOTIONS SUCH AS MINIMAL PATH (CUT) SETS AND RELEVANCE FIRST ARE INTRODUCED IN TERMS OF STRUCTURE FUNCTIONS. THE BINARY DECOMPOSI- TIONS ARE STUDIED AND USED FOR CHARACTERIZING THE BROAD-SENSE COHERENCE IN TERMS OF SETS; THIS LEADS TO SOME FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONS USEFUL FOR MULTINARY SYSTEMS ANALYSIS. THE BINARY-TYPE COHERENCE, THE HOMOGENOUS COHERENCE AND THE VARIOUS TYPES OF STRICT-SENSE COHERENCE ARE REVIEWED AND FULLY CHARACTE- RIZED IN VARIOUS WAYS. LIFE FUNCTIONS LEAD TO SOME MODEL USEFUL FOR RELIABILITY CALCULATIONS WHEREAS THE RESULTS FIRST OBTAINED IN TERMS OF (N+1) LEVELS SYSTEMS CAN BE GENERALIZED, IN A STRAIGHT WAY, FOR THE WHOLE MULTINARY CASE. METHODS FOR DETERMINING, IN AN "EXACT" OR "APPROXIMATED" WAY, RELIABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF MULTINARY COHERENT SYSTEMS ARE STUDIED FROM BOTH OF THE FUNDAMENTAL MODELS OF RELIABILITY, THEN POSSIBLE. FURTHERMORE, SOME KIND OF NON-COHERENT MULTINARY SYSTEMS IS SUGGESTED.

MAZARS N.; 

1995-03-15

European Commission

JRC4169

EUR 10629 EN,