Operational Reliability Assessment of a Remotely Controlled Siphon System for Draining Shallow Storage Ponds

This paper presents the operational reliability assessment of a remotely controlled siphon system. The siphon system mostly consists of water level switches, air vents, bilge pumps, and an actuated butterfly valve. In this study, the reliability block diagram (RBD) model based on the ExtendSim software is employed to assess a remotely controlled siphon system's operational reliability. The Monte Carlo simulation results from the RBD model demonstrate that the nonrepairable siphon system's operational availability can be enhanced from 0.683 to 0.855 within a 1-year life cycle by increasing the safety factor to 2 for the vulnerable components, such as the water level switch and the air vent. The value can increase to 0.999 when adopting an on-site maintenance strategy. Based on the analysis of multiple scenarios and maintenance strategies, a suitable architecture of the siphon system is proposed herein.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the operational reliability assessment of a remotely controlled siphon system and suggests that increasing the safety factor for vulnerable components can enhance the system's availability. Through simulation and analysis, a suitable architecture for the siphon system is proposed.