A novel reliability estimation method of multi-state system based on structure learning algorithm

Traditional reliability models, such as fault tree analysis (FTA) and reliability block diagram (RBD), are typically constructed with reference to the function principle graph that is produced by system engineers, which requires substantial time and effort. In addition, the quality and correctness of the models depend on the ability and experience of the engineers and the models are difficult to verify. With the development of data acquisition, data mining and system modeling techniques, the operational data of a complex system considering multi-state, dependent behavior can be obtained and analyzed automatically. In this paper, we present a method that is based on the K2 algorithm for establishing a Bayesian network (BN) for estimating the reliability of a multi-state system with dependent behavior. Facilitated by BN tools, the reliability modeling and the reliability estimation can be conducted automatically. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the performance of the method.