ANALYSIS OF COLD-STANDBY SYSTEMS — CUTTING AND CLUSTERING THE STATE SPACE

In this paper two methods, namely cutting and clustering the state space are discussed to find approximate solutions to n-unit cold-standby system with a single repair facility. It has been assumed that the failure rate is constant and the repair time is arbitrarily distributed. A mathematical model is developed using semi-regenerative phenomena and systems of convolution integral equations satisfied by various state probabilities corresponding to different initial conditions are obtained. Explicit expressions for the availability and the reliability of the system are obtained. An iterative method is used to solve the systems of integral equations obtained and a comparative study has been carried out between exact and approximate solutions.