Impact of time-varying failure rates on distribution reliability

In most distribution reliability studies, failure rates are treated as constant under exponential recovery models. However, most failure rates have been shown to change with the age of the components. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of components with time-varying failure rates on distribution reliability. A distribution reliability assessment using time-varying failure rates will be compared with one using constant failure rates. A Monte Carlo simulation will be performed to capture the effects of the changing failure rates on distribution system reliability. Emphasis will be on modeling time-varying failure of components to realize a practical approach for a given distribution system reliability assessment.