Performance evaluation of an industrial configured as series-parallel system

Abstract

This paper deals with the performance evaluation of an industrial configured as series-parallel system. The Markovian approach was adopted to model the system behaviour with the assumption that the failure and repair rates of each system follow exponential distribution. Through the transition diagram, systems of first order differential equations of the developed model were formulated to obtain the steady-state probability. These equations were solved recursively. The availability at steady-state was analyzed and investigated. The effects of failure and repair rates of all the subsystems were presented in the form of availability matrices. From the availability matrices, it has been observed that as Failure/Repair rates increases, the availability tends to decrease/increase. The mathematical model developed in this paper signifies the subsystem which mainly influences system performance. Thus, the developed model is considered an excellent tool for system performance evaluations. The developed model will also assist system engineers and designers, reliability and maintenance managers.