Uncertain (N, T) block replacement policy of aircraft structure subjected to corrosion damage

This paper focuses on an uncertain (N, T) block replacement policy with minimal repairs for the aircraft structure under corrosion damage. We consider a kind of structure component which is made by a new developed composite material, and its failure time is considered as an uncertain variable because of the absence of historical data. Given the chance constraint of corrosion maintenance allowance, an uncertain programming model for (N, T) block replacement model with minimal repairs which minimizes the expected cost rate is proposed based on uncertain theory, and the optimal time interval $$T^*$$T∗ and the number $$N^*$$N∗ of preventive repairs can be obtained by an improved branch and bound algorithm. Finally, a numerical example with parameter sensitivity analysis is illustrated to verify the proposed model and algorithm.