On Reliability Evaluation by Network Decomposition

A simple algorithm for evaluating the symbolic terminal-pair reliability of a complex system is presented. The system graph is decomposed into two subgraphs through a minimal cut. The system success is expressed in terms of certain successes of these subgraphs, and then changed into an equivalent disjoint expression which is directly converted on a one-to-one basis into a reliability expression. It yields unusually simple reliability expressions. The algorithm can be computerized but has not been done. Three examples illustrate the algorithm and compare it with other algorithms.