Reliability of Series-Parallel Systems With Random Failure Propagation Time

This paper presents an algorithm for evaluating the reliability and performance distribution of complex non-repairable series-parallel multi-state systems with common cause failures caused by propagation of failures in system elements. The failure propagation can have a selective effect, which means that the failures originating from different elements can cause failures of different subsets of system elements. The failure propagation time is assumed to be a random value with a given distribution. The suggested algorithm is based on the universal generating function approach, and a generalized reliability block diagram method (recursive aggregation of pairs of elements and their replacement by an equivalent one). The evaluation procedure is repeated for each combination of elements affected by the common cause failures. Illustrative examples are provided.