Optimal replacement and allocation of multi-state elements in k-within-m-from-r sliding window systems

摘要

This paper proposes a new model that generalizes the linear sliding window system to the case of multiple failures. The considered k-within-m-from-r sliding window system consists of n linearly ordered multi-state elements and fails if at least k groups out of m consecutive groups of r consecutive multi-state elements have cumulative performance lower than the demand W. A reliability evaluation algorithm is suggested for the proposed system. In order to increase the system availability, maintenance actions can be performed, and the elements can be optimally allocated. A joint element allocation and maintenance optimization model is formulated with the objective of minimizing the total maintenance cost subjected to the pre-specified system availability requirement. Basic procedures of genetic algorithms are adapted to solve the optimization problem. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the applications. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.