Fault Tree Analysis:Min Cut Set Algorithms.

摘要

In the paper the author presents a unified approach for finding minimal cut sets of a complex system defined by its Fault Tree representation. Two algorithms,complete with proofs are presented. The downward algorithms has already appeared in literature as MOCUS without any proof. The formulation is somewhat different and provides proofs. The paper also points out the relative merits of both algorithms and establishes the upward algorithm MICSUP as the more useful one. MICSUP not only gives all the min cut sets of the TOP EVENT but also gives all the min cut sets of any intermediate event. MICSUP also gives all the min cut sets of any intermediate event up to a desired specific size. Various bounds on the family of min cut sets are also found.