Maintenance optimization of series-parallel systems operating missions with scheduled breaks

This paper addresses the selective maintenance optimization problem for a multi-mission series-parallel system. Such a system experiences several missions with breaks between successive missions. To improve the reliability of the system, preventive maintenance actions are performed during breaks. Each preventive maintenance action is characterized by its age reduction coefficient. The selective maintenance problem consists then in finding an optimal maintenance plan which minimizes the total maintenance cost while providing a given required system reliability level for each mission. The fundamental constructs and the relevant parameters of this decision-making problem are developed and discussed.