CAT 1

1. (I) Discuss what is reliability and the concept of reliability engineering? (5mks)
Reliability is the ability of an item to perform a required function under stated
conditions for a stated period of time.
Reliability engineering has both quantitative and qualitative aspects;
measurements of reliability are necessary for customer requirements compliance.
However, measuring reliability does not make a product reliable, only by designing
in reliability can a product achieve its reliability targets. Good engineering principles
ensure product reliability
ii) Identify and explain four objectives of reliability engineering? (8mks)

 To apply engineering knowledge to prevent or reduce the likelihood or frequency

of failures-by using engineering knowledge you can be able to anticipate possible
causes of failure and put in measures that will prevent the problem from occurring.

 To identify and correct the causes of failure that do Occur-Good engineering

knowledge and experience equip you with skills that will enable to analyze and
correct the cause of failure.

 To determine ways of coping with failures that do occur-In case the cause of the
failure has not been identified, it is necessary to come up with ways that deal with
the effects of the failure.

 To apply methods of estimating the likely reliability of new designs, and for
analyzing reliability data. - applying mathematical and statistical methods used in
reliability engineering is valuable as it minimizes the chances of performing
inappropriate analysis and generating misleading results.

iii) Time to failure distribution of a gas turbine system can be represented using Weibull
distribution with scale parameter h = 1000 hours and shape parameter b = 1.7. Find the
hazard rate of the gas turbine at time t = 800 hours and t = 1200 hours. (7mks)

𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1
h(t)=
𝜂
(𝜂)

1.7 800 0.7

h(800)= (1000) = 0.00145
1000

1.7 1200 0.7

h(1200)= ( ) = 0.0019
1000 1000
iv) Explain the following types of redundancy
a) Cold Standby System (2Mks)
In a cold standby, the redundant part of the system is switched on only
when the main part fails. In a cold standby, the hazard function of the item in
standby mode is zero.

b) Warm Standby System (2Mks)

In a warm standby system, the redundant item will be sharing partial load
along with the main item. Thus, in a warm standby, the hazard function of
the standby item will be less than that of the main item.
c) Hot Standby System (2MKs)
In a hot standby, the main item and the standby item will be sharing equal
load, and hence will have the same hazard rate. Thus, a hot standby can be
treated as a parallel system to derive reliability expressions

v) Discuss Failure-Based maintenance policy, FBM (4Mks)

Failure-Based maintenance policy, FBM, represents an approach where
corrective maintenance tasks are carried out after a failure has occurred, in
order to restore the functionality of the item/system considered.

Consequently, this approach to maintenance is known as breakdown, post failure,

firefighting, reactive, or unscheduled maintenance. According to
this policy, maintenance tasks often take place in ad hoc manner in
response to breakdown of an item following a report from the system user.

Implementation of FBM to the above situations could lead to full utilization

of the operating life of the item.
2. I) Discuss the main reasons why failure occurs? (7mks)

 The product is not fit for purpose or more specifically the design is inherently
incapable. – It might be too week, consume too much power suffer resonance at the
wrong frequencies and the more complex the design the higher the chances of
failure.
 The item may be overstressed in some way-If the stress applied exceeds the strength
then the failure will occur.
  Failures can be caused by wear-out-a machine is sufficiently strong at the start of its
life but with age its gets weaker and hence its ability to withstand failure is reduced.
 Failures might be caused by variation-components of machines that have varying
strength might lead to failure when the weak part is strained beyond what it can
handle.
 Wrong specifications may cause failures-wrong specifications, designs, programs are
a major source of error.
 Misuse of the item may cause failure-when items are not used for the purpose they
were meant for can damage the machine leading to failure.
 Items are designed for a specific operating environment and if they are then used
outside this environment then failure can occur-when machines instructions for best
use are not followed the chances of failure occurring are high

ii) Explain any six repercussions of poor reliability? (6mks)

poor reliability can have implications for:

• Safety – failures that occur due to poor reliability can be hazardous and cause harm
to people using the equipment.
• Competitiveness-unreliable machines make it difficult to produce quality products
that are up to the required standards.
• Profit margins-a lot of man hours are wasted on occurrence of failure and also the
with repetitive failure the machine output is reduced.
• Cost of repair and maintenance-a lot of money is wasted on failure management and
repair since one may be required to either buy a new part or hire a professional to
handle the repair.
• Delays further up supply chain – if production happens in stages when one part of
production stops due to failure, the whole production is also affected
• Reputation – frequent failures on equipment can damage reputation of the
manufacturing company among both the clients and workers.
• Good will –a company risks to lose its reputation among clients as it will be regarded
as a company that manufactures unreliable machines.

iii) A system has two items A and B connected in series. The time-to-failure of item A
follows exponential distribution with parameter l = 0.002. The time to-failure of
 item B follows Weibull distribution with parameter h = 760 and b = 1.7. Find the
hazard rate of this system at time t = 100 and t = 500. (7mks)
Let hA(t) and hB(t) represent the hazard rate of item A and B respectively.
Since the items are connected in series, the hazard rate of the system, hS(t)
is given by:
𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1 1.7 𝑡 0.7
ℎ𝑠 = ℎ𝐴 (𝑡) + ℎ𝐵 (𝑡) = 𝜆 + ( ) ( ) = 0.002 + ( )+ ( )
𝜂 𝜂 760 760
Substituting t = 100 and t = 500 in the above equation,
hS(100) = 0.00254
hS(500) = 0.0036

CAT 2
3. i) Draw and describe the life cycle of a system? (10mks)

Production or
Needs and Construction
Design Use Retirement
Requirements

Conceptual design Manufacture Operation

Preliminary design Assembly Maintenance
Detailed design Ssupport

The first process then is a set of tasks performed to identify the needs and requirements
for a new system and transform them into its technically meaningful definition. The main
reason for the need of a new system could be a new function to be performed (that is
there is a new market demand for a product with the specified function) or a deficiency of
the present system.

The first step in the conceptual design phase is to analyses the functional need or
deficiency and translate it into a more specific set of qualitative and quantitative
requirements. This analysis would then lead to conceptual system design alternatives.
The main tasks during the preliminary design stage are system functional analysis such as
operational functions, maintenance functions, allocations of performance and
effectiveness factors and the allocation of system support requirement (Blanchard, 1991).
The main tasks performed during the detailed design stage 1. Development of
system/product design, 2. Development of system prototype, and 3. System prototype
test and evaluation

During the production/construction process the system is physically created in

accordance with the design definition. The input characteristics of the production process
are the raw material, energy, equipment, facilities and other ingredients needed for the
production/construction of the new system.

The output characteristics are the full physical existence of the functional system that is
ready for use. At this stage the system goes through maintenance in case of failure.

Finally, when the system has finished its lifespan its retired and no longer used.

ii) Explain the concept of failure? (3mks)

Essentially, a failure of a system is any event or collection of events that causes the
system to lose its function ability where function ability is the inherent characteristic of a
product related to its ability to perform a specified function according to the specified
requirements under the specified operating conditions.
iii) Explain the Hazard function? (3mks)
Hazard function (or hazard rate) is used as a parameter for comparison of two different
designs in reliability theory. Hazard function is the indicator of the effect of ageing on the
reliability of the system. It quantifies the risk of failure as the age of the system increases.
iv) Discuss the Poisson Distribution (3mks)

Poisson distribution the theoretical probability distribution which pairs the number of
occurrences of an event in a given time period with its probability.

4. Explain the following terms:

I) Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) (3mks)
MTTF represents the expected value of a system's time to first failure. It is used as a
measure of reliability for non-repairable items such as bulb,
microchips and many electronic circuits
ii) System redundancy (3mks)
In systems, redundancy is a means of maintaining system integrity if critical parts of it fail.
In some cases, this means replicating parts of the system, in others, alternatives are used
iii) Maintenance and Maintainability (4mks)
Maintenance is the action necessary to sustain and restore the performance, reliability
and safety of the item. The main objective of maintenance is to assure the availability of
the system for use when required.
Maintainability is the scientific discipline that studies complexity, factors and resources
related to the maintenance tasks needed to be performed by the user in order to
maintain the functionality of a system, and works out methods for their quantification,
assessment, prediction and improvement.
iv) Maintenance Elapsed-Time (3mks)
The length of the elapsed time, required for the restoration of functionality, called time to
restore, it is therefore a function of the maintainability and supportability of the system.
v) Factors to consider when designing for reliability: (7mks)
 criticality of failure
 probability of failure
 effects of failure
 Identification of all possible failure modes for the system as well as the subsystem,
modules and components
 functional operation of the system
 system requirements
 cause of failures
5. I) Describe what is meant by availability? (2Mks)
Availability is used to measure the combined effect of reliability, maintenance and logistic
support on the operational effectiveness of the system.
ii) Explain what is Fault Tree Analysis and further discuss the three main steps involved
when carrying out Fault tree analysis. (8MKs)
Fault tree analysis is a deductive approach involving graphical enumeration and analysis
of the different ways in which a particular system failure can occur, and the probability of
its occurrence.

The following steps are used to carry out FTA

1. Identify the top-level event 􀂱 The most important step is to identify and define the top-
level event. It is necessary to specific in defining the top-level
event, a generic and non-specific definition is likely to result in a broad based fault tree
which might be lacking in focus.
2. Develop the initial fault tree 􀂱 Once the top-level event has been satisfactorily
identified, the next step is to construct the initial causal hierarchy in the form of a fault
tree. Techniques such as Ishikawa􀂱s cause and effect diagram can prove beneficial.
3. Analyze the Fault Tree 􀂱 The third step in FTA is to analyses the initial fault tree
developed. The important steps in completing the analysis of a fault tree are 1. Delineate
the minimum cut-sets, 2. Determine the reliability of the top-level event and 3. Review
analysis output.

Identify Top Develop the Analyze the

Level Initial Fault
Event Fault Tree Tree

Review Determine
Analysis Top- Delineate the
Output Level Event Minimal Cut
Reliability sets

iii) Discuss Inspection-Based maintenance policy, IBM, and give its benefits (5Mks)
where conditional maintenance tasks in the form of inspections are performed at fixed
intervals of operation, until the performance of a preventive maintenance task is required
or until a failure occurs requiring corrective maintenance.
1. Reduce unplanned downtime, since maintenance engineers can determine optimal
maintenance intervals through the condition of constituent items in the system. This
allows for better maintenance planning and more efficient use of resources.
2. Improve safety, since monitoring and detection of the deterioration in condition and/or
performance of an item/system will enable the user to stop the system (just) before a
failure occurs.
3. Extending the operating life of each individual items and therefore the coefficient of life
utilization will be increased compared to time based maintenance
4. Improve availability by being able to keep the system running longer and reducing the
repair time.
5. Reduce maintenance resources due to reduction in unnecessary maintenance activities
6. The above benefits will lead to a reduction in maintenance costs
iv) Examination-Based maintenance policy, EBM, where conditional maintenance tasks
in the form of examinations are performed in accordance with the monitored condition
of the item/system, until the execution of a preventive maintenance task is needed or a
failure occurs. (5Mks)
The advantages of the examination-based maintenance policy are:
1. Fuller utilization of the functional life of each individual system than in case of time -
based maintenance;
2. Provision of the required reliability level of each individual system as in case of time-
based maintenance;
3. Reduction of the total maintenance cost as a result of extending the realizable
operating life of the system and provision of a plan for maintenance tasks from the point
of view of logistic support;
4. Increased availability of the item by a reduction of the number of inspections in
comparison with inspection-based maintenance.
5. Applicability to all engineering systems.