Reliability and safety of complex technical systems and processes. Modeling -- identification -- prediction -- optimization. (Q545914)

The book concerns multi-state systems composed of ageing components and changing their structures and their components' reliability and safety characteristics during operation processes. The assumption that the systems are composed of multi-state components with reliability or safety states degranding in time gives the possibility for a more precise analysis of their reliability, safety and operation processes' effectiveness, this allows to distinguish a system reliability and safety critical state. An important characteristic is the time to the moment of exceeding this critical state and its distribution which is called the system risk function. In case of large systems the determination of system reliability and the risk function leads to very complicated formulae, an important technique in this situation is the asymptotic approach. The convenient tool for analyzing these problems are semi-Markov modeling the systems' operation processes and multi-state approach that is proposed in this book. The book presents general reliability, availability and safety analytical models of complex non-repairable and repairable multi-state technical systems related to their operation processes and applies them to real industrial systems and processes. The common usage of the multi-state systems' reliability and availability models and the semi-Markov model of operation processes in order to construct joint general reiability and availability models is the main idea of the book. The book contains complete solutions of the formulated problems in case of exponential multi-state reliability functions of their components. The book has the following chapters: 1. Modeling reliability and safety of multistate systems with ageing components; 2. Modeling complex technical systems operation processes; 3. Complex technical systems, reliability, availability and safety evolution and prediction; 4. Complex technical systems operation processes identification; 5. Complex technical system components reliability and safety identification; 6. Complex technical systems operation, reliability, availability, safety and cost optimization; 7. Additional applications. The results presented in the book are used for port oil transportation systems, maritime ferry technical systems and container gantry crane. The book concludes with a summary that contains the evaluation of the presented results, the fomulation of open problems concerned with complex technical systems reliability and safety and the perspective of further investigation on the considered problem. It can be recommended to researchers and industry practioners.