Introduction to Fault Tree Analysis

Abstract : Fault tree analysis has proved to be a useful analytical tool for the reliability and safety analysis of complex systems. This is a semi-expository introduction to the mathematics of fault tree analysis. Many of the concepts of coherent structure theory have been used. Bounds on the system reliability when components are dependent (that is, are associated) are given. Algorithms to find the min-cut-sets and related bounds, together with various means for computing the probability of the Top Event are presented. Measures of event importance are discussed. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the concepts.