An aircraft Maintenance Free Operating Period allocation approach

There is a trend that Maintenance Free Operating Period (MFOP) which is a new reliability metric introduced in 1990s will take the place of Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF). Compared to MTBF, MFOP can better satisfy customers´ requirement of completing assigned mission and meanwhile reducing Life Cycle Cost. It is important to allocate MFOP from top to bottom in order to make design objectives clear to designers of all levels which results in a real application of MFOP. First, the factors that influence the standard of MFOP are discussed and the mathematical model for each factor is created respectively. Second, the allocation approach is illustrated. Finally, a representative case is analyzed to prove that the approach is feasible and practical. The approach allocating MFOP from aircraft to Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) presented in this paper provides a theoretical foundation for embedding MFOP into design which makes a positive effect on the application of MFOP.