How to accommodate today’s ever higher demands on complex system availability targets, while remaining mindful of life-cycle cost (LCC)? A method will be presented to assess the impact of testability strategies, maintenance policies, and redundancy management on system availability and LCC. Markov diagrams and Petri nets are used to that end. Impact of ageing and imperfect maintenance is taken into account. The method is illustrated on communication networks and rail industry examinations.

This paper explains the technical and mathematical methodology for acceleration of reliability qualification (fixed duration with and without replacement) and reliability assurance tests (SPRT) using physics and engineering rationale along with appropriately modified mathematical approach in the test design and data analysis. This approach is with the intent to obtain meaningful and relevant information on reliability of products in their actual use and in a cost and schedule effective manner.

This tutorial provides an overview of current state of the art in system risk, reliability, and maintenance modeling using dynamic methods. The target audience of the tutorial is engineers who are familiar with the basic concepts of static (Boolean-based) system reliability modeling (RBD and/or FT) and who are unsure when (if at all) the benefits of using dynamic tools outweigh their drawbacks.

This session describes actions being taken within the Department of Defense to implement new RAM initiatives directed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology. Information is presented on the use of reliability engineering design practices; the concept, definition, and rationale for Materiel Availability (Am); and guidelines for Army T&E community use to insure RAM engineering and RAM T&E requirements remain at the forefront of T&E planning and management.

For many products, accelerated degradation testing is more efficient than accelerated life testing. This tutorial presents accelerated degradation test methods, degradation models, estimation of model parameters, relationships between degradation and reliability, and estimation of reliability. Several practical examples are presented for illustration.

Even though risk management is not a new topic in life, science, or business, there has been a growing emphasis on applying formal risk-based methods to decision-making. This tutorial provides a foundation for scientists, engineers, and business executives to explicitly apply risk-based approaches to help solve problems in their disciplines. The emphasis in the tutorial is on understanding risk and its many attributes, using both subjective and quantitative examples.

This tutorial will teach attendees how to plan and conduct experiments effectively and efficiently, and more importantly how to analyze data correctly. Properties of different design types will be discussed. Methodologies for modeling and analyzing different data obtained from designed experiments will be introduced. The appropriate approach for investigating censored data obtained from life testing will also be presented.

The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce the basic concepts of optimization in R&M. We review the fundamentals of optimization theory, then explore various optimization techniques, including specific optimization models for R&M problems, methods for s_olving them, and provide some examples for understanding the application. This is an advanced tutorial and upon completion of the tutorial, attendees should have an understanding of optimization in general and how it applies to R&M problems.

Markov chains are a class of stochastic processes that can be used to model a wide variety of issues related to reliability and maintainability. This tutorial covers the fundamental concepts of discrete-time and continuous-time Markov chains.

The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce attendees to empirical modeling techniques for process and equipment monitoring, detection, diagnostics, and prognostics. The tutorial will provide a brief background and an overview of the theoretical foundations. The course will be applications oriented in that the assumptions inherent in the techniques will be explained so that the appropriate technique can be selected and applied to solve specific engineering problems. Case studies are included.