IMPORTANCE MEASURE OF PROBABILISTIC COMMON CAUSE FAILURES UNDER SYSTEM HYBRID UNCERTAINTY BASED ON BAYESIAN NETWORK

When dealing with modern complex systems, the relationship existing between components can lead to the appearance of various dependencies between component failures, where multiple items of the system fail simultaneously in unpredictable fashions. These probabilistic common cause failures affect greatly the performance of these critical systems. In this paper a novel methodology is developed to quantify the importance of common cause failures when hybrid uncertainties are presented in systems. First, the probabilistic common cause failures are modeled with Bayesian networks and are incorporated into the system exploiting the α factor model. Then, probability-boxes (bound analysis method) are introduced to model the hybrid uncertainties and quantify the effect of uncertainties on system reliability. Furthermore, an extended Birnbaum importance measure is defined to identify the critical common cause failure events and coupling impact factors when uncertainties are expressed by probability-boxes. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is demonstrated through a numerical example.W przypadku nowoczesnych systemów złożonych, relacje zachodzące między komponentami mogą prowadzić do pojawienia się różnych zależności między ich uszkodzeniami, a tym samym do sytuacji w których kilka składowych systemu ulega uszkodzeniu jednocześnie w nieprzewidywalny sposób. Tego typu probabilistyczne uszkodzenia wywołane wspólną przyczyną (PCCF) mają ogromny wpływ na wydajność tych kluczowych systemów. W przedstawionym artykule opracowano nową metodę szacowania ważności PCFF w sytuacjach, gdy w systemie występują niepewności hybrydowe. W pierwszej kolejności, PCFF zamodelowano za pomocą sieci bayesowskich i włączono do systemu wykorzystującego model współczynnika α. Następnie, wprowadzono przedziały prawdopodobieństwa, tzw. probability boxes (bound analysis method), w celu zamodelowania niepewności hybrydowych i kwantyfikacji wpływu tych niepewności na niezawodność systemu. Ponadto zdefiniowano rozszerzoną miarę ważności Birnbauma, która pozwala zidentyfikować krytyczne zdarzenia PCCF oraz czynniki, które je wywołały, w przypadkach, gdy niepewności wyrażone są za pomocą probability boxes. Skuteczność metody wykazano na przykładzie numerycznym

Condition Assessment Models for Sewer Pipelines

Underground pipeline system is a complex infrastructure system that has significant impact on social, environmental and economic aspects. Sewer pipeline networks are considered to be an extremely expensive asset. This study aims to develop condition assessment models for sewer pipeline networks. Seventeen factors affecting the condition of sewer network were considered for gravity pipelines in addition to the operating pressure for pressurized pipelines. Two different methodologies were adopted for models’ development. The first method by using an integrated Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) and Monte-Carlo simulation and the second method by using FANP, fuzzy set theory (FST) and Evidential Reasoning (ER). The models’ output is the assessed pipeline condition. In order to collect the necessary data for developing the models, questionnaires were distributed among experts in sewer pipelines in the state of Qatar. In addition, actual data for an existing sewage network in the state of Qatar was used to validate the models’ outputs. The “Ground Disturbance” factor was found to be the most influential factor followed by the “Location” factor with a weight of 10.6% and 9.3% for pipelines under gravity and 8.8% and 8.6% for pipelines under pressure, respectively. On the other hand, the least affecting factor was the “Length” followed by “Diameter” with weights of 2.2% and 2.5% for pipelines under gravity and 2.5% and 2.6% for pipelines under pressure. The developed models were able to satisfactorily assess the conditions of deteriorating sewer pipelines with an average validity of approximately 85% for the first approach and 86% for the second approach. The developed models are expected to be a useful tool for decision makers to properly plan for their inspections and provide effective rehabilitation of sewer networks.1)- NPRP grant # (NPRP6-357-2-150) from the QatarNational Research Fund (Member of Qatar Foundation) 2)-Tarek Zayed, Professor of Civil Engineeringat Concordia University for his support in the analysis part, the Public Works 3)-Authority of Qatar (ASHGAL) for their support in the data collection

Reliability prediction in early design stages

In the past, reliability is usually quantified with sufficient information available. This is not only time-consuming and cost-expensive, but also too late for occurred failures and losses. For solving this problem, the objective of this dissertation is to predict product reliability in early design stages with limited information. The current research of early reliability prediction is far from mature. Inspired by methodologies for the detail design stage, this research uses statistics-based and physics-based methodologies by providing general models with quantitative results, which could help design for reliability and decision making during the early design stage. New methodologies which accommodate component dependence, time dependence, and limited information are developed in this research to help early accurate reliability assessment. The component dependence is considered implicitly and automatically without knowing component design details by constructing a strength-stress interference model. The time-dependent reliability analysis is converted into its time-independent counterpart with the use of the extreme value of the system load by simulation. The effect of dependent interval distribution parameters estimated from limited point and interval samples are also considered to obtain more accurate system reliability. Optimization is used to obtain narrower system reliability bounds compared to those from the traditional method with independent component assumption or independent distribution parameter assumption. With new methodologies, it is possible to obtain narrower time-dependent system reliability bounds with limited information during early design stages by considering component dependence and distribution parameter dependence. Examples are provided to demonstrate the proposed methodologies --Abstract, page iv

Integrative risk-based assessment modelling of safety-critical marine and offshore applications

This research has first reviewed the current status and future aspects of marine and offshore safety assessment. The major problems identified in marine and offshore safety assessment in this research are associated with inappropriate treatment of uncertainty in data and human error issues during the modelling process. Following the identification of the research needs, this thesis has developed several analytical models for the safety assessment of marine and offshore systems/units. Such models can be effectively integrated into a risk-based framework using the marine formal safety assessment and offshore safety case concepts. Bayesian network (BN) and fuzzy logic (FL) approaches applicable to marine and offshore safety assessment have been proposed for systematically and effectively addressing uncertainty due to randomness and vagueness in data respectively. BN test cases for both a ship evacuation process and a collision scenario between the shuttle tanker and Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading unit (FPSO) have been produced within a cause-effect domain in which Bayes' theorem is the focal mechanism of inference processing. The proposed FL model incorporating fuzzy set theory and an evidential reasoning synthesis has been demonstrated on the FPSO-shuttle tanker collision scenario. The FL and BN models have been combined via mass assignment theory into a fuzzy-Bayesian network (FBN) in which the advantages of both are incorporated. This FBN model has then been demonstrated by addressing human error issues in a ship evacuation study using performance-shaping factors. It is concluded that the developed FL, BN and FBN models provide a flexible and transparent way of improving safety knowledge, assessments and practices in the marine and offshore applications. The outcomes have the potential to facilitate the decision-making process in a risk-based framework. Finally, the results of the research are summarised and areas where further research is required to improve the developed methodologies are outline

Life Cycle Risk Assessment of a Monopile Offshore Wind Power Plant in Italy: An Interval Type-2 Quantitative Fuzzy FMEA Approach

In terms of renewable energy adoption, Italy is making a decent pro- gress by shifting towards biomass, solar and wind to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. However, a rather new alternative to traditional onshore wind power plant, offshore wind power projects, are becoming more and more popular in Europe. Italy is still in its early stage with only one project realized in the Mediterranean Sea. To foster the growth of these projects it is advised by the European Union to engage in risk assessment methodologies and studies able to provide a smooth transition towards the development of such technologies. In this context, this study is the first one to perform a risk analysis on the only standing offshore wind power plant in Italy. For this purpose, this work uses a rule-based Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) approach integrated with the interval type-2 fuzzy Pythagorean. The risks adopted from the secondary literature with the help of experts are based on sustainability factors such as technical, economic, environ- mental and socio-political ones. The risks are based on the phases of planning, commissioning and operational stages. A total of 27 risks are assessed based on severity, occurrence and difficulty in detection which are subsequently filtered through the 125 rules for more effective outcomes. The risks that are rated to be the most critical ones would then be assessed to provide corresponding risk man- agement strategies

Uncertainty Management and Evidential Reasoning with Structured Knowledge

This research addresses two intensive computational problems of reasoning under uncertainty in artificial intelligence. The first problem is to study the strategy for belief propagation over networks. The second problem is to explore properties of operations which construe the behaviour of those factors in the networks. In the study of operations for computing belief combination over a network model, the computational characteristics of operations are modelled by a set of axioms which are in conformity with human inductive and deductive reasoning. According to different topological connection of networks, we investigate four types of operations. These operations successfully present desirable results in the face of dependent, less informative, and conflicting evidences. As the connections in networks are complex, there exists a number of possible ways for belief propagation. An efficient graph decomposition technique has been used which converts the complicated networks into simply connected ones. This strategy integrates the logic and probabilistic aspects inference, and by using the four types of operations for its computation it gains the advantage of better description of results (interval-valued representation) and less information needed. The performance of this proposed techniques can be seen in the example for assessing civil engineering structure damage and results are in tune with intuition of practicing civil engineers