Optimal Reliability Design for Complex Systems

One can transform an optimal reliability design problem for complex systems into an equivalent problem for which solutions can be derived in a much simpler and more efficient manner. This results in a resource allocation problem that can be solved by efficient techniques. The major assumption is that the original problem has only one associated constraining equation. However, this approach can be extended to problems with multiple constraints by applying the procedure in an iterative fashion within a penalty function framework. This approach applies to any system for which the reliability can be calculated. Each logical stage of the system under study can incorporate redundancy via a parallel arrangement, standby, or k-out-of-n:G.