A two-phase inspection model for a single component system with three-stage degradation

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 158; pp. 31 - 40
• Main Authors: Wang, Huiying, Wang, Wenbin, Peng, Rui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Barking Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Age; Age-based replacement; Algorithms; Computer simulation; Degradation; Delay time; Efficiency; Inspection; Inspections; Maintenance; Mathematical models; Reliability engineering; Search algorithms; Swarm intelligence; Inspection; Delay time; Maintenance; Age-based replacement
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2016.10.005

This paper presents a two-phase inspection schedule and an age-based replacement policy for a single plant item contingent on a three-stage degradation process. The two phase inspection schedule can be observed in practice. The three stages are defined as the normal working stage, low-grade defective stage and critical defective stage. When an inspection detects that an item is in the low-grade defective stage, we may delay the preventive replacement action if the time to the age-based replacement is less than or equal to a threshold level. However, if it is above this threshold level, the item will be replaced immediately. If the item is found in the critical defective stage, it is replaced immediately. A hybrid bee colony algorithm is developed to find the optimal solution for the proposed model which has multiple decision variables. A numerical example is conducted to show the efficiency of this algorithm, and simulations are conducted to verify the correctness of the model. •A two-phase inspection model is studied.•The failure process has three stages.•The delayed replacement is considered.