Reliability and spare parts requirement prediction of repairable one-unit system under periodic testing and preventive maintenance

In this paper, a simulation method of repairable one-unit system's reliability and spare requirement under preventive maintenance especially preventive maintenance with periodic testing is discussed. Simulating model is develop to solve the multi-objective constrained optimization problem of maximizing system availability and minimizing maintenance cost under constrains of repair time, test interval, spare number, etc. Dimension-changeable matrixes are used to describe and record the digital and logical states of the simulating variables, so that traditional for or while loops programs can be optimized and the simulation time can be reduced greatly. The method is proved to be useful in spare requirement forecast and maintenance strategy planning for repairable one-unit system under complicated maintenance modes with different life distribution types.