A Markov System Dynamics Approach for Repairable Systems Reliability Modeling

The study and analysis of repairable systems is an important topic in reliability. Analytical techniques become very complicated and unrealistic especially for modern complex systems. There have been attempts in the literature to evolve more realistic techniques using simulation approach for reliability analysis of systems. The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel Markov system dynamics (MSD) simulation framework for the reliability modeling and analysis of a repairable system. This paper proposes a hybrid approach called as MSD approach which combines the Markov approach with system dynamics simulation approach for reliability modeling. This approach will have the advantages of both Markov as well as system dynamics methodologies. The proposed framework is illustrated for a repairable two component system. The results of the simulation obtained in this work when compared with that obtained by traditional Markov analysis clearly validate that this novel MSD approach is an alternative approach for reliability modeling and analysis.