Graph theory based reliability assessment software program for complex systems

Abstract

Reliability is a conceptual term that means endurance, dependability, andgood performance. However, in system engineering, it is more than a conceptualterm; it can be measured and evaluated. Reliability means the ability of a system toperform the required task under the normal conditions during its age. A complexityin system reliability may be commonly arisen due to the interconnection of variouselements in the form of a network that can be represented by graphs. The graph theoryand computer programs are essential tools for analyzing large and complex systems.This chapter presents how a complexity of system reliability can be reduced throughthe use of computer programs based on a graph theory. The software program hasbeen developed for reliability assessment of complex systems such as aircraft. Itcan handle any statistical distributions. It uses the inclusion-exclusion method forfinding the minimal paths for directed acyclic graph using reliability block diagram(RBD). A system may be considered to operate if there exists a set of functioningcomponents from source to target. So, at least one minimal path must function forthe system operation. The probability of the union of all minimal paths can be usedto find the reliability of the whole system