An algorithm for evaluation and analysis of stationary operational availability basing on mission requirements

Both mathematical and simulation methods have limitations for evaluation of stationary operational availability. The former assumes that demand is independent of the operating system, which can result in underestimation of the operational availability. The latter requires a large number of trials to obtain the results with a sufficient degree of confidence under the pre-specified scenarios. This paper addresses the issue of determining the stationary operational availability based on mathematical models. The proposed model considers many factors including system passivation, mission requirements, system design parameters, the number of working systems, lead time, and maintenance time. An approximation method to the operational availability is given. Specific example is used to illustrate the relationship among the aforementioned factors. Numerical experiments show that the model agrees well with Monte Carlo simulation results and the feasibility and rationality of the proposed method are validated.