Reliability evaluation of combined k-out-of-n:F, consecutive-k-out-of-n:F and linear connected-(r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F system structures

Based on a real industrial application, three new system reliability models are proposed: combined k-out-of-n:F and consecutive-k _c-out-of-n:F system; combined k-out-of-m·n:F and linear connected-(r,s)-out-of-(m,n):F system; and combined k-out-of-m·n:F consecutive-k_c-out-of-n:F and linear connected-(r,s)-out-of-(m,n):F system. Reliability evaluation algorithms are provided for these models. The computation times of the algorithms for these models are, respectively: O(n·k), O(k·n·2 ^m·s^m-r+2), O(k·n·(2k_c )^m·s^m-r+1). The algorithms are used for system reliability evaluation of furnace systems. The concept of the combined k-out-of-n:F and 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional consecutive-k-out-of-n:F systems can be extended to other variations of the consecutive-k-out-of-n:F systems, e.g., the consecutive-k-out-of-n:G system and 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional r-within-k-out-of-n:F systems. The concept of Markov chain imbeddable (MIS) systems is another excellent tool that can be used for analysis of such combined system structures