In System Reliability, a Risk identifies one way in which an Asset can fail. If the Risk occurs, then the piece of equipment or location will fail, and the system cannot run. In System Reliability Analyses, Risks are stored in System Risks, which can be linked to System Assets and System Switches.
A piece of equipment or location may have multiple Risks to represent multiple ways in which that piece of equipment or location can fail. As such, System Assets and System Switches can be linked to multiple System Risks.
Each Risk has a characteristic pattern of causing an Asset to fail as defined by its TTF distribution data or maximum operating time. Risks also have TTR distribution data, which characterizes the time needed to correct the failure that occurs as the result of the Risk and get the system running again. This distribution data is stored in Distributions, which are linked to Risks.
After you create an Action in a System Reliability Analysis, you can assign a single Risk or multiple Risks to that Action. When you assign a Risk to an Action, a link is created between a System Risk Assessment record, which stores the GUID of the mitigated Risk in the Risk GUID field, and the Action. This allows the Action to mitigate the Risk. An Action may mitigate a Risk by changing certain properties, such as failure consequences or the failure distribution, of the Risk.
Actions mitigate Risks in different ways depending on the type of Action that is assigned to the Risk. The different types of Actions mitigate Risks in the following ways:
Note: An Action does not have to mitigate a Risk, but associating an Action with a Risk and mitigating the Risk creates a more reliable system.
After you add elements to a Diagram, you must connect the elements to create the Diagram. Depending on the structure of the system for which you are creating a Diagram, you will want to connect elements to each other in a series or parallel to one another.
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When you connect elements to each other in a series, every element has one preceding connection and one succeeding connection, with only one path from the Start element to the End element. For example, in the following image of Scenario A in the System Reliability Analysis example, the elements in the Diagram for Scenario A root subsystem are connected in a series: every element between the Start and End elements has one connection from an element and one connection to an element, and you can reach the End element from the Start element in only one way.
When you connect elements in parallel to one another, one or more elements will be connected to multiple elements, and there will be multiple paths from the Start element to the End element. For example, in the System Reliability Analysis example, the Bottling Line elements in the Bottling Subsystem root subsystem are connected in parallel. In this case, the Start element and the Linkelement are connected to three Subsystem elements: Bottling Line 1, Bottling Line 2, and Bottling Line 3. Therefore, there are three different paths from the Start element to the End element, depending on which of the three Bottling Lines that you pass through.
When a simulation is run, the occurrence of the Risks that are defined for a piece of equipment, location, or switch are simulated, based on the TTF Distribution associated with that Risk. After a Risk occurs or after actions are performed that mitigate the occurrence of that Risk in the simulation, that Risk will be reset automatically. This means that the time in-service for the component associated with the Risk will be changed to zero (0), indicating that the component was replaced (or repaired to as good as new).
When a Risk will be reset automatically is determined by the failure type of that Risk. A Risk whose failure type is Failure With Replacement will be reset automatically when any of the following scenarios occur:
A Risk whose failure type is Failure Without Replacement will be reset automatically when any of the following scenarios occurs:
Suppose that the following Risks with a failure type of Failure With Replacement are defined in your simulation for a Water Pump:
In the simulation, after unplanned correction is completed following the occurrence of the Bearing Failure Risk , the time in-service for the Bearing will be reset automatically to zero (0) to indicate that you will replace the Bearing after it fails so that the Bearing Failure Risk will not occur again until the defined TTF Distribution is reached.
In addition to Risks being reset automatically as described in the preceding scenarios, you can specify that additional Risks be reset following the planned or unplanned correction of a given Risk. In other words, you can specify a Risk as a source Risk, whose planned or unplanned correction triggers additional Risks to be reset at that time. This means that the time in-service for the components associated with the additional Risks will be changed to zero (0), indicating that the additional components were also replaced (or repaired to as good as new) following the planned or unplanned correction of the source Risk.
Throughout the documentation we will use the term source Risk to refer to a Risk whose planned or unplanned correction triggers the resetting of additional Risks. We will use the term additional Risk to refer to Risks that are reset by the planned or unplanned correction of a source Risk.
You can specify that additional Risks should be reset only when:
An unplanned correction takes place following the occurrence of a source Risk.
-or-
Source Risks that are mitigated as a result of Special Action with a TTF replacement or Preventive Maintenance will not trigger any additional Risks to be reset.
Suppose that:
You will replace the Seal, in addition to the Bearing, when the Bearing Failure Risk occurs.
-or-
In this case, you want to indicate in your simulation that the Bearing Failure Risk (i.e., the source Risk) should reset the Seal Failure Risk (i.e., the additional Risk). In other words, the time that the Seal has been in-service will also be changed to zero (0) to reflect that the Seal will be replaced (or repaired to as good as new) following the planned or unplanned correction of the Bearing Failure Risk.
You can specify any Risk that is defined for an Asset as a source Risk or an additional Risk, with a few exceptions. When you set up a simulation to include source Risks and additional Risks, you must follow these rules:
Failure With Replacement
-or-
In the simulation, only Risks whose failure type is Failure With Replacement are reset following a planned or unplanned correction. Risks whose failure type is Failure Without Replacement are not reset following planned or unplanned correction because the components associated with these Risks are not replaced (or repaired to as good as new). Specifically, this means that a Risk whose failure type is Failure Without Replacement:
Suppose that the following Risks with the following failure types are defined for a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger:
Now suppose that when you complete planned or unplanned correction for the Tube Bundle Failure Risk, though you will not replace (or repair to as good as new) the Tube Bundle, you will replace (or repair to as good as new) the Seals (gaskets). In this case, you want to indicate in your simulation that the Tube Bundle Failure Risk is a source Risk that should trigger the resetting of the Seals (gaskets) Failure Risk (i.e., an additional Risk). In other words, the time that the Seals (gaskets) has been in service will be changed to zero (0) to reflect that the Seals (gaskets) will be replaced (or repaired to as good as new) following the planned or unplanned correction of the Tube Bundle Failure Risk.
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