Automated fault tree analysis for hydraulic systems

Fault Tree Analysis is a commonly used technique for assessing the reliability and safety of engineering systems at the design stage. Despite its widespread use, the method suffers a number of drawbacks which are exacerbated by the fact that it is tedious and time-consuming to apply. A number of computer programs exist which assist in the clerical aspects of the analysis, but few attempts have been made to automate the synthesis of trees with software solutions. A reconfigurable program is presented in this paper, which utilizes a library of qualitative component models to enable fault tree type analyses of arbitrary hydraulic circuit configurations. The program is shown applied to the analysis of failures of an experimental rig and a complex industrial system, and some features of its design and performance are discussed