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Fault Trees: Probability of A Particular Failure Condition

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Fault Trees

- widely used in standby & sequential logic systems


- to evaluate the probability of a particular failure condition of a system
Evaluation process:
 Deduce the fault tree (top-down approach)
- start from the Top Event (system failure condition of interest)
- identify immediate events that cause the top event,
and how they interact(represented by logic gates) to cause the top event
- identify further events that cause the events above,
and proceed downwards until Basic Events are reached
 Calculate the failure probability
- Direct numerical approach (bottom-up approach)
(applicable when all events are independent: no duplicate basic events)
- Boolean algebra approach (top-down) - complex for large systems
- Minimal cutset method (top-down)
approximation can be used to simplify evaluation

Fault Trees
T : loss of electric power

I : loss of a.c. power E3: loss of d.c. power

E1: loss of onsite power E2: loss of offsite power

I
E3

E1 E2

1
Direct Numerical Approach

T Evaluate the probability of ‘loss of electric


power’. If,

P(E1) = 0.067
P(E2) = 0.075
P(E3) = 0.005
I
E3
P(I) = P(E1). P(E2)
= (0.067) x (0.075) = 0.005025

E1 E2
P(T) = P(I) + P(E3) - P(I). P(E3)
= 0.005025 + 0.005 –(0.005025).(0.005)
= 0.01

Boolean Algebra Approach: Duplicated basic events


(Top-down approach)

T = I1 + I2
T = (E1. I3) + (E2 + I4)
= [E1.(E3. E4)] + [E2 + (E5 + E3)]
= E1.E3. E4 + E2 + E5 + E3
= E3 (E1. E4 + 1) + E2 + E5
I1 I2

From the Rules of Boolean Algebra,


(E1. E4 + 1) = 1

E I3 E I4
T = E3 + E2 + E5
1 2

E E E E
3 4 5 3

2
Minimal Cut Set Method
Start from the top logic gate

Replace the gate by its inputs (i.e. gates or basic events)

 if OR gate - take the events below as separate items


 if AND gate - take the events below as a combined item

Continue from top to bottom gates until the basic events are reached

Separate or combined items finally obtained


include only the basic events – these are the cutsets

Determine the minimal cutsets from the cutsets above

Minimal Cut Set Method: Duplicated basic events

G0
T
G1 G2

E1 G3 E2 G4
I1 I2
E1 E3 E4 E2 E5 E3

Cut Sets: Minimal Cut sets:


I3 E I4 E2 E2
E
1 2 E5 E5
E3 E3
E1 E3 E4

E E E E P(T) ≈ P(E2)+ P(E5) + P(E3)


3 4 5 3

3
Multi-failure modes

1 Derive the expression for success probability if


success is defined as a unidirectional path
X Y existing between X and Y. Assume that both
diodes have the same failure probabilities, and
2 Pn = probability of normal operation
Po = probability of failure due to open circuit
Ps = probability of failure due to short circuit

State enumeration method:


Binomial Distribution (p+q)n extended for 3-state component,

(Pn + Po + Ps)2 = Pn2 + Po2 + Ps2 + 2 Pn Po + 2 Pn Ps + 2 Po Ps


G B B G B B

Rs = Pn2 + 2 Pn Po

Multi-failure modes: Conditional Probability Method

Rs = P(sys success | 1 is normal).P(1 is normal)


+ P(sys success | 1 is open).P(1 is open)
1 + P(sys success | 1 is shorted).P(1 is shorted)

X Y Given 1 is normal, P(sys success) = Pn + Po


Given 1 is open, P(sys success) = Pn
2 Given 1 is shorted, P(sys success) = 0

Rs = (Pn + Po) (Pn) + (Pn) (Po) + (0) (Ps)


= Pn2 + 2 Pn Po

If Pn = 0.98, Po = Ps = 0.01 then Rs = 0.98

If Pn = 0.98, Po = 0.02, Ps = 0 then Rs = 0.9996

If Pn = 0.98, Po =0, Ps = 0.02 then Rs = 0.9604

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