Multidisciplinary fault diagnosis of complex engineering systems: A case study of nuclear power plants

Fault diagnosis is a key process in ensuring complex engineering system safety. It often requires collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts. This study seeks to understand the process of multidisciplinary fault diagnosis in complex engineering systems and the key human factors issues that impair this process. Data were collected from multidisciplinary diagnostic activities conducted in the commissioning phase of nuclear power plants (NPPs). In the first phase, we proposed a process model based on a combination of literature review, specialist interviews, and field observations. In phase two, the influencing issues identified in the first phase were assessed through a survey with 117 NPP commissioning specialists. Five factors influencing multidisciplinary fault diagnosis were identified: cognitive artifacts, diagnosis biases, preparation for multidisciplinary diagnosis, information sharing and collaborative reasoning, and collaborative decision-making. The significances of each factor were compared. The results provide guidance for the development of improvement measures to enhance the performance of multidisciplinary fault diagnosis. Practitioner summary: The processes and influencing issues of multidisciplinary fault diagnosis during the commissioning phase of nuclear power plants were studied with field observations, interviews of 28 specialists, and a survey of 117 specialists. Five major influencing factors were identified, and their influences were compared.