Reliability is one of the most important attributes for the products and processes of any company or organization. This important work provides a powerful framework of domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reducing methods which can greatly lower risk in any area of human activity. It reviews existing methods for risk reduction that can be classified as domain-independent and introduces the following new domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reduction methods: Separation Stochastic separation Introducing deliberate weaknesses Segmentation Self-reinforcement Inversion Reducing the rate of accumulation of damage Permutation Substitution Limiting the space and time exposure Comparative reliability models The domain-independent methods for reliability improvement and risk reduction do not depend on the availability of past failure data, domain-specific expertise or knowledge of the failure mechanisms underlying the failure modes. Through numerous examples and case studies, this invaluable guide shows that many of the new domain-independent methods improve reliability at no extra cost or at a low cost. Using the proven methods in this book, any company and organisation can greatly enhance the reliability of its products and operations.

Reliability is one of the most important attributes for the products and processes of any company or organization. This important work provides a powerful framework of domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reducing methods which can greatly lower risk in any area of human activity. It reviews existing methods for risk reduction that can be classified as domain-independent and introduces the following new domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reduction methods: Separation Stochastic separation Introducing deliberate weaknesses Segmentation Self-reinforcement Inversion Reducing the rate of accumulation of damage Permutation Substitution Limiting the space and time exposure Comparative reliability models The domain-independent methods for reliability improvement and risk reduction do not depend on the availability of past failure data, domain-specific expertise or knowledge of the failure mechanisms underlying the failure modes. Through numerous examples and case studies, this invaluable guide shows that many of the new domain-independent methods improve reliability at no extra cost or at a low cost. Using the proven methods in this book, any company and organisation can greatly enhance the reliability of its products and operations.

This book has been written with the intention to fill two big gaps in the reliability and risk literature: the risk-based reliability analysis as a powerful alternative to the traditional reliability analysis and the generic principles for reducing technical risk. An important theme in the book is the generic principles and techniques for reducing technical risk. These have been classified into three major categories: preventive (reducing the likelihood of failure), protective (reducing the consequences from failure) and dual (reducing both, the likelihood and the consequences from failure). Many of these principles (for example: avoiding clustering of events, deliberately introducing weak links, reducing sensitivity, introducing changes with opposite sign, etc.) are discussed in the reliability literature for the first time. Significant space has been allocated to component reliability. In the last chapter of the book, several applications are discussed of a powerful equation which constitutes the core of a new theory of locally initiated component failure by flaws whose number is a random variable. - Offers a shift in the existing paradigm for conducting reliability analyses - Covers risk-based reliability analysis and generic principles for reducing risk - Provides a new measure of risk based on the distribution of the potential losses from failure as well as the basic principles for risk-based design - Incorporates fast algorithms for system reliability analysis and discrete-event simulators - Includes the probability of failure of a structure with complex shape expressed with a simple equation

This book covers the application of algebraic inequalities for reliability improvement and for uncertainty and risk reduction. It equips readers with powerful domain-independent methods for reducing risk based on algebraic inequalities and demonstrates the significant benefits derived from the application for risk and uncertainty reduction. Algebraic inequalities: • Provide a powerful reliability improvement, risk and uncertainty reduction method that transcends engineering and can be applied in various domains of human activity • Present an effective tool for dealing with deep uncertainty related to key reliability-critical parameters of systems and processes • Permit meaningful interpretations which link abstract inequalities with the real world • Offer a tool for determining tight bounds for the variation of risk-critical parameters and complying the design with these bounds to avoid failure • Allow optimising designs and processes by minimising the deviation of critical output parameters from their specified values and maximising their performance This book is primarily for engineering professionals and academic researchers in virtually all existing engineering disciplines.

This book considers all aspects of performability engineering, providing a holistic view of the activities associated with a product throughout its entire life cycle of the product, as well as the cost of minimizing the environmental impact at each stage, while maximizing the performance. Building on the editor's previous Handbook of Performability Engineering, it explains how performability engineering provides us with a framework to consider both dependability and sustainability in the optimal design of products, systems and services, and explores the role of performability in energy and waste minimization, raw material selection, increased production volume, and many other areas of engineering and production. The book discusses a range of new ideas, concepts, disciplines, and applications in performability, including smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0; cyber-physical systems and artificial intelligence; digital transformation of railways; and asset management. Given its broad scope, it will appeal to researchers, academics, industrial practitioners and postgraduate students involved in manufacturing, engineering, and system and product development.

This book introduces a new method based on algebraic inequalities for optimising engineering systems and processes, with applications in mechanical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, reliability engineering, risk management and operational research. This book shows that the application potential of algebraic inequalities in engineering and technology is far-reaching and certainly not restricted to specifying design constraints. Algebraic inequalities can handle deep uncertainty associated with design variables and control parameters. With the method presented in this book, powerful new knowledge about systems and processes can be generated through meaningful interpretation of algebraic inequalities. This book demonstrates how the generated knowledge can be put into practice through covering the algebraic inequalities suitable for interpretation in different contexts and describing how to apply this knowledge to enhance system and process performance. Depending on the specific interpretation, knowledge, applicable to different systems from different application domains, can be generated from the same algebraic inequality. Furthermore, an important class of algebraic inequalities has been introduced that can be used for optimising systems and processes in any area of science and technology provided that the variables and the separate terms of the inequalities are additive quantities. With the presented various examples and solutions, this book will be of interest to engineers, students and researchers in the field of optimisation, engineering design, reliability engineering, risk management and operational research.

The second edition of Reverse Engineering of Algebraic Inequalities is a comprehensively updated new edition demonstrating the exploration of new physical realities in various unrelated domains of human activity through reverse engineering of algebraic inequalities. This book introduces a groundbreaking method for generating new knowledge in science and technology that relies on reverse engineering of algebraic inequalities. By using this knowledge, the purpose is to optimize systems and processes in diverse fields such as mechanical engineering, structural engineering, physics, electrical engineering, reliability engineering, risk management and economics. This book will provide the reader with methods to enhance the reliability of systems in total absence of knowledge about the reliabilities of the components building the systems; to develop light-weight structures with very big materials savings; to develop structures with very big load-bearing capacity; to enhance process performance and decision-making; to obtain new useful physical properties; and to correct serious flaws in the current practice for predicting system reliability. This book will greatly benefit professionals and mathematical modelling researchers working on optimising processes and systems in diverse disciplines. It will also benefit undergraduate students introduced to mathematical modelling, post-graduate students and post-doctoral researchers working in the area of mathematical modelling, mechanical engineering, reliability engineering, structural engineering, risk management, and engineering design. .

This book covers the application of algebraic inequalities for reliability improvement and for uncertainty and risk reduction. It equips readers with powerful domain-independent methods for reducing risk based on algebraic inequalities and demonstrates the significant benefits derived from the application for risk and uncertainty reduction. Algebraic inequalities: • Provide a powerful reliability improvement, risk and uncertainty reduction method that transcends engineering and can be applied in various domains of human activity • Present an effective tool for dealing with deep uncertainty related to key reliability-critical parameters of systems and processes • Permit meaningful interpretations which link abstract inequalities with the real world • Offer a tool for determining tight bounds for the variation of risk-critical parameters and complying the design with these bounds to avoid failure • Allow optimising designs and processes by minimising the deviation of critical output parameters from their specified values and maximising their performance This book is primarily for engineering professionals and academic researchers in virtually all existing engineering disciplines.

Covering a wide range of topics on safety, reliability and risk management, the present publication will be of interest to academics and professionals working in a wide range of scientific, industrial and governmental sectors, including: Aeronautics and Aerospace; Chemical and Process Industry; Civil Engineering; Critical Infrastructures; Energy; Information Technology and Telecommunications; Land Transportation; Manufacturing; Maritime Transportation; Mechanical Engineering; Natural Hazards; Nuclear Industry; Offshore Industry; Policy Making and Public Planning.

Reliability, Maintainability and Risk: Practical Methods for Engineers, Eighth Edition, discusses tools and techniques for reliable and safe engineering, and for optimizing maintenance strategies. It emphasizes the importance of using reliability techniques to identify and eliminate potential failures early in the design cycle. The focus is on techniques known as RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety-integrity). The book is organized into five parts. Part 1 on reliability parameters and costs traces the history of reliability and safety technology and presents a cost-effective approach to quality, reliability, and safety. Part 2 deals with the interpretation of failure rates, while Part 3 focuses on the prediction of reliability and risk. Part 4 discusses design and assurance techniques; review and testing techniques; reliability growth modeling; field data collection and feedback; predicting and demonstrating repair times; quantified reliability maintenance; and systematic failures. Part 5 deals with legal, management and safety issues, such as project management, product liability, and safety legislation. - 8th edition of this core reference for engineers who deal with the design or operation of any safety critical systems, processes or operations - Answers the question: how can a defect that costs less than $1000 dollars to identify at the process design stage be prevented from escalating to a $100,000 field defect, or a $1m+ catastrophe - Revised throughout, with new examples, and standards, including must have material on the new edition of global functional safety standard IEC 61508, which launches in 2010