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Purpose: This study utilizes reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) to analyze the in-armed suspension unit (ISU) of armored vehicles. The aim is to propose a maintenance schedule that minimizes maintenance costs based on the RCM analysis.BRMethods: Fault tree analysis was performed to define the failure modes of the armored vehicle ISU system. The life distribution parameters for each part of the ISU were estimated using field operation data. Subsequently, the probability of failure and the number of expected failure events of a reference group comprising 100 armored vehicles were calculated by considering operation time. Lastly, a parametric study was conducted to determine the optimal maintenance schedule. Results: This study utilizes RCM to present the root cause of ISU failure and its consequences.BRConsidering the targeted operational time, the optimal maintenance schedule was 90 h of operation for 100 armored vehicles. Performing maintenance at this interval resulted in the lowest maintenance costs.BRConclusion: Introducing maintenance after every 90 h of operation instead of the current corrective maintenance scheme is expected to reduce the frequency of unexpected failures and minimize the costs associated with unscheduled maintenance. This method can be applied to other equipment subject to gradual deterioration to determine the optimal maintenance schedule.
Lee et al. (Fri,) studied this question.