Aging, maintenance, and reliability - approaches to preserving equipment health and extending equipment life

A survey is offered for the various maintenance methods available for operators to preserve equipment health and extend equipment life. The methods range from the simplest, "follow-the-manual" types to detailed probabilistic approaches. To get the most out of maintenance, one has to select a mathematical model where optimization is possible. Another choice, of which operators are becoming more and more aware, is to apply a maintenance policy. This article concentrates on maintenance policies and their applications. Maintenance policy is based not on a rigid schedule but on the "as needed" principle. This can be implemented with or without mathematical models