Risk based maintenance decision for periodically tested repairable components subject to hidden failure

This paper aims to develop a graphical method to facilitate the identification of risk and cost of postponement of restoration for repairable components which are periodically tested and whose failures are hidden, i.e, are detectable by inspection or upon demand. The paper focuses on the items which are under aging, however, the methodology is flexible to implement for any aging pattern. The paper considers Failure Finding Inspection (FFI) with restoration actions (FFI+Res), for the “safety effect” categories of hidden failures. As-bad-as-old (ABAO) inspection effectiveness and as-good-as-new (AGAN) restoration effectiveness are considered. In case of repair due to findings by inspection, as-bad-as-old repair effectiveness is considered. The graphical methodology proposed in this paper considers inspection and repair times, as well as the costs associated with accident, inspection, repair, and restoration, and takes into account the opportunity losses due to the maintenance downtime. The analytical approach is based on the Mean Fractional Dead Time. In the case of an operational limit, when it is not possible to remove the unit for restoration, or one needs to use the unit longer than the expected operating time, the paper introduces an approach to analyzing the possibility of and conditions for providing an extension to the restoration interval that satisfies the risk constraints and the business requirements at the same time.