Optimisation of parallel systems subject to two modes of failure with repair provision (Q688533)

Consider a parallel system consisting of \(N\) identical and statistically independent units. Each unit and the system itself are subject two kinds of failure: failure to operate when it should be operating and failure to idle when it should be idle. The system is repaired after failure and is allowed to undergo a fixed number \(n\) of repairs and the corresponding successive repair times \(\{w_ i,\;i=1,2,\dots\}\) constitute a non- decreasing geometric process. (A sequence \(\{w_ i\}\) is called a geometric process if, for some \(\alpha>0\), \(\{\alpha^{i-1} w_ i,\;i=1,2,\dots\}\) forms a renewal process.) The authors develop a procedure leading to an optimal number of units \(N'\), which minimize the long run expected cost per unit of time \[ C(N,n)= {NC_ 1+ C_ 2 E(w_ 1) \sum^ n_{i=1} (1/\alpha)^{i- 1}\over (n+2) S_ N}, \] where \(C_ 1\), \(C_ 2\) are acquisition cost of each unit and system repair cost per unit time, respectively, and \(S_ N\) denotes the mean time to failure of the system. When the failure time has an exponential distribution, the optimal policies are illustrated numerically.