Economy Optimization for Series-Parallel Multi-State Systems Considering Reliability Evaluation

Multi-state systems are typical representatives in engineering system and numerous researches have been devoted to evaluate the reliability of multi-state systems. However, it is inefficient to apply the traditional algorithms to economy optimization problem for finding the optimal system structure which can balance the request of reliability and economy among several series-parallel multi-state systems, as its computational time may last for hours. Thus, this paper proposes a novel method based on ordinal optimization algorithm and Monte Carlo simulation technique to solve this economy optimization problem, instead of calculating the reliability of every system by traditional methods. Three analytically calculation methods concerning the characteristics of multi-state systems are defined, which can dramatically and effectively shorten the computational time by selecting the superior systems into reliability calculation process. A cost optimization algorithm to comprise both economic and reliability index is presented. Numerical studies and comparisons are illustrated to validate the efficiency of the proposed economy optimization method.