Reliability analysis of hierarchical computer-based systems subject to common-cause failures

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 92; no. 3; pp. 351 - 359
• Main Authors: Xing, Liudong, Meshkat, Leila, Donohue, Susan K.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Common-cause failures; Dynamic fault trees; Exact sciences and technology; Hierarchical systems; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Reliability analysis; Reliability theory. Replacement problems; Reliability analysis; Dynamic fault trees; Hierarchical systems; Common-cause failures; Fault tree; Rupture; Failures; Modeling; Tuning; Hierarchized structure; Aggregation; Functional models; Hierarchical system; Computer system; Reliability
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2006.04.010

The results from reliability modeling and analysis are key contributors to design and tuning activities for computer-based systems. Each architecture style, however, poses different challenges for which analytical approaches must be developed or modified. The challenge we address in this paper is the reliability analysis of hierarchical computer-based systems (HS) with common-cause failures (CCF). The dependencies among components introduced by CCF complicate the reliability analysis of HS, especially when components affected by a common cause exist on different hierarchical levels. We propose an efficient decomposition and aggregation (EDA) approach for incorporating CCF into the reliability evaluation of HS. Our approach is to decompose an original HS reliability analysis problem with CCF into a number of reduced reliability problems freed from the CCF concerns. The approach is represented in a dynamic fault tree by a proposed CCF gate modeled after the functional dependency gate. We present the basics of the EDA approach by working through a hypothetical analysis of a HS subject to CCF and show how it can be extended to an analysis of a hierarchical phased-mission system subject to different CCF depending on mission phases.