Optimization of system reliability by adaptive randomly directed search (Q791439)

The problem of optimizing the reliability of a system employing redundancy is to solve a nonlinear programming problem: Maximize \(f(X_ 1,...,X_ n)\), subject to \(g_ j(X_ 1,...,X_ n)\leq c_ j (j=1,....,m)\), \(XL_ i\leq X_ i\leq XU_ i (i=1,...,n)\), where \(X_ i\) is a positive integer for \(i=1,...,n\) and \(XL_ i\) and \(XU_ i\) are the lower and upper bounds of \(X_ i\), respectively. A new adaptive random directed search algorithm is developed which combines the methods of \textit{R. Luus} [IEEE Trans. Reliab. 24, 14-16 (1975)] and \textit{R. C. Kelahan} and \textit{J. L. Gaddy} [Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 12, 289-298 (1978; Zbl 0373.90050)]. Its usefulness and advantages in solving reliability problems are demonstrated through three examples.