Using PoF models to predict system reliability considering failure collaboration

Existing Physics-of-Failure-based (PoF-based) system reliability prediction methods are grounded on the independence assumption, which overlooks the dependency among the components. In this paper, a new type of dependency, referred to as failure collaboration, is introduced and considered in reliability predictions. A PoF-based model is developed to describe the failure behavior of systems subject to failure collaboration. Based on the developed model, the Bisection-based Reliability Analysis Method (BRAM) is exploited to calculate the system reliability. The developed methods are applied to predicting the reliability of a Hydraulic Servo Actuator (HSA). The results demonstrate that the developed methods outperform the traditional PoF-based reliability prediction methods when applied to systems subject to failure collaboration.