Microelectron. Reliab., Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 621 623, 1987. Printed in Great Britain.

0026 2714/8753.00+ .00 1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd.

A RELIABILITY MODEL FOR A k-OUT-OF-N:G R E D U N D A N T SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE FAILURE MODES A N D C O M M O N CAUSE FAILURES
WHO KEE CHUNG Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K 1N 6N5

(Receivedfor publication 24 November 1986)

Abstract--The paper presents a reliability model of a k-out-of-N:G redundant system with M mutually exclusive failure modes and common cause failures. Failed system repair times are arbitrarily distributed. The system is in a failed state when ( N - k + 1) units failed or a common cause failure occurred. Laplace transforms of the state probabilities and the availability of the system are derived. Finally, the system steady-state availability is also reported.

INTRODUCTION

In m o d e r n industries very high reliability systems are needed. T o i m p r o v e the reliability of systems, the c o m p o n e n t r e d u n d a n c y plays a n i m p o r t a n t role a n d must be studied. T h e c o m p o n e n t failures occur due to m a l f u n c t i o n i n g of mechanical, electrical a n d / o r design (hardware a n d / o r software) problems. This p a p e r presents a m a t h e m a t i c a l model of r e d u n d a n t systems with N identical units whose units m a y fail in M mutually exclusive failure modes. All units m a y fail due to a c o m m o n cause. The system requires a m i n i m u m of k ~< N units in a n o p e r a t i o n a l state. The system failed in any one of M failure m o d e s is repaired back to its original o p e r a t i o n a l state. The repair time distribution depends o n the failure m o d e of the ( N - k + 1)th unit. A c o m m o n cause failure is defined as a n instance where multiple units fail due to a single cause [ 1 - 3 ] .
ASSUMPTIONS

Pj(t) ej(y), qj(y)

pj(y, t)
d do a~ s

the jth degraded state of the system with [(j-1)/M+I] units failed with the last { [ ( j - 1 ) / M ] + l } t h failed unit due to the j-[(j-1)/M]M failed mode, where ( j - I ) / M is equal to the integer of [ ( j - 1)/M], j = c means failure due to a common cause and j = ( N - k)M +i, i = 1, 2..... M means system failure due to the ith failure mode of the (N--K+ 1)th unit probability that the system is in statej at time t repair rate and probability density function of repair time when the system is in state 3"and has an elapsed repair time of y, j = c and j = ( N - k ) M + i , i = 1,2 ..... M probability density (with respect to repair time) that the failed system is in state j and has an elapsed repair time of y constant common cause failure rate of the system =difk>lor=0ifk=l constant failure rate of a unit due to the ith failure mode Laplace transform variable

1. Repair, common cause and other failures are statistically independent. 2. The system consists of N identical active units and requires at least k ~< N of them to be in an operational state. 3. Each unit can fail in M mutually exclusive failure modes. 4. Common cause failures can only occur with more than one operational unit. 5. A repaired system is as good as "new". 6. At time 0 all units are in an operational state. 7. Unit and common cause failure rates are constant. 8. The failure rate of a unit due to the ith failure mode may be different from that of the jth failure mode. 9. Repair times are arbitrarily distributed.
NOTATION

a'r Gj(s) Av(s) Av

= real
Laplace transform of the pdf of repair time q~(y) Laplace transform of system availability system steady-stateavailability.

T H E STATE P R O B A B I L I T Y O F
THE SYSTEM

T h e transition diagram of the k-out-of-N:G r e d u n d a n t system with M mutually exclusive failure m o d e s a n d c o m m o n cause failures is depicted in Fig. 1. The set of differential equations for the model is

(c3/Ot+d+i~=l aN)Po(t) =
o

0 N M k

initial state (i.e. at t = 0) the total number of active units in the system the number of mutually exclusive failure modes the minimum number of operational units required for the system to be considered in an operating state 621

Pc(Y, t)e~(y) dy + i ~ P(N--klM+i(Y,t)eIN-k)M+i(Y) dy,

(1)

J e(N- k ) M + i ( Y )

e(N=l k)M+l{ y )

v1+1
Im
oN_ j 0 i

a~-2

o~'
N.j.l~ *

jM+* o,~-J-'
o~J P

a~ -j

ar~-J
O'i" '

"i
V O IN-j- I

"

D ,I N O~,i -J N-j-t J

z )M N-k+llM

/~"~+I )M
aN-J

...*d

do

-=(N_k +I}M( y )

--.-=,-- -Connected to C

Fig. 1.

Reliability model for a k-out-of-N:G redundant system

M M

623

(a/t3t+d+ ~=la~m-J)Ptj-1)M+i(t)
M

+ ~ [1--G(N-k)M+i($)'laki ~ AN-k.mDN-k
ill

=
m=l

N-j+I PU-2)M+m(t), am
and

+s+s f

}-1
,

m=l

(12)

j=l i=i

j = 1 , 2 ..... N-k-1

i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M, (2)

where

(d/t~t+do+m~=ak)PtN-k+l,M+,(t) =
E

Aji = a N-j+I

s+d+
=1

a~m-j ,
i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M, i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M,

ra=l

k+l am P(N-k-2)M+m(t),

j=1,2 ..... N-k-l; i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M, (3)

AN-k,i = a k+l
DI = 1,

/(

s+do+

=1

{d/dt + 8/t3y + e(N-k)M +i(Y)}P(N-k)M+i(Y, t) = 0,

i = 1,2 . . . . . M, (4) (5) and

{~/dt+a/dy+ec(y)}p(y, t) = 0,
M

Oj ~" ~

... ~
i1=1

aj-l,i~-,

il_t = 1 i1_2 = 1

p(N_k)M+i(O, t) = ~ akp(N_k_l)M+m(t),
m=l

xAj-2,ij_2 ...A2,i2Al, i~.

(6) The system availability expression in terms of Laplace transform is

i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M,
(N- k-2) M

pc(O, t) = d

~
j=O

~ PjM+i(t)
i=1

(N k)M

Av(s) =
M i=1

~
i=0

Pi(s).

(13)

+deo(t)+do ~ PtN-k-.u+~(t), (7)

N-k M

~, ~ PjM+i(t)+P~(t)+Po(t)= 1
j=O i=1

(8)

By applying the limiting theorem of the Laplace transform, we have the system steady-state availability
(N - k)M

and Pi(O) = 1 for i = 0, otherwise = 0, pj(y, 0) = 0 for a l l j and ( N - k ) M +i, i = 1, 2 ..... M. Laplace transforms of the solutions of the above equations are

Av = lim s ~
s~O i=0

Pi(s).

(14)

SPECIAL CASES

e~j- l)M+i(s) = AjiDj Po(S)

for j=l,2 ..... N-k; i = 1 , 2 . . . . . M, (9)

Let us consider the following cases. (1) For N = 2, k = 1, we have, from equations 9, 10, 11 and 12, the equations 7, 8, 9 and 10 reported by Dhillon [4,l. (2) For N = 2 , k=l, M=4, e c ( y ) = # and ei(Y)=/~i for i = 5,6,7,8, equations (9)-(12) are reduced to equations (15)-(18) in [4].
REFERENCES

Pc(s)= [1-6~(s)]S

d 1+ y,
j=l i

Aj,Oj
(10)

+do ~"
M

P(lV-k)M+i(S) = aki ~

m=l

AN-k,mDN-k
i= 1,2 ..... M
(11)

[ 1 - G{N- k)A4+i(S)-IPo(S)/S,
and

Po(s)= {[1-Gc(s)'lld(l +Nj~=:1 i~__lAjiDj)

+do ~,:~AN-k, iDN-k]

1. B. S. Dhillon, On common-cause failures--bibliography, Microelectron. Reliab. 18, 533 (1979). 2. B. S. Dhillon, Multi-state device redundant system with common-cause failures and one standby unit, Microelectron. Reliab. 20, 411 (1980). 3. Who Kee Chung, A k-out-of-N:G three state unit redundant system with common-cause failures and replacements, Microelectron. Reliab. 21, 589 (1981). 4. B. S. Dhillon, Unified availability modeling: a redundant system with mechanical, electrical, software, human and common-cause failures, Microelectron. Reliab. 21, 653 (1981).