The set-theory method for systems reliability of structures with degrading components

The times and frequencies of inspection, maintenance and replacement in structural systems are complicated by uncertain degradation rates of structural characteristics. Although degradation work at the component, or single failure mode level, is ongoing, this paper presents a method for assessing systems reliability where failure events may be described by time-variant parallel and/or series systems. Herein the models for the degradation rates contain random variables and time. For multiple failure modes and a sequence of discrete times, set theory establishes the true incremental failure region that emerges from a safe region. Probabilities via Monte-Carlo simulation require only time-invariant calculations. The cumulative failure distribution is the summation of the incremental failure probabilities. A practical implementation of the theory requires only two contiguous times. Error analysis suggests ways to predict and minimize errors so the method appears sufficiently accurate for engineering applications. Two structures with elastic-brittle material and time-invariant loads show the details of the method and the potential of the approach. It is shown that the proposed method provides a more realistic and efficient way to predict systems reliability than path-tracing methods that are available in the open literature. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.