A failure-repair model with minimal and major maintenance

A Markov model for a continuously operating service device whose condition deteriorates with time in service is proposed. The model incorporates deterioration and Poisson failures, minimal repair, periodic minimal maintenance, and major maintenance after a given number of minimal maintenances. An exact recursive algorithm computes the steady-state probabilities of the device. A cost function is defined using different cost rates for the different types of outages. Based on minimal unavailability or minimal costs, optimal solutions of the model are derived. Major maintenance is seldom beneficial if optimal maintenance intervals are used. If a maintenance policy is based on nonoptical intervals between maintenances, periodic major maintenance can reduce costs