Repairable System Analysis -- Reliability, Maintainability, Throughput, Life Cycle Cost, and More...

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BlockSim 7
The Ultimate System Visualization and Analysis ToolSM

Software Features Summary

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Full Range of Capabilities for Repairable System Analysis, Reliability, Maintainability, Throughput, Life Cycle Cost, and More...

With the release of Version 7, BlockSim’s discrete event simulation engine is more sophisticated and realistic than ever. Although you can perform basic simulations with minimal setup, the software also provides tremendous flexibility to define the simulation options to meet your specific needs for reliability, maintainability, throughput, life cycle cost and related analyses.

Maintenance Properties and Policies By defining individual block properties and “policies” (which can be shared throughout the project), you can model a wide variety of scenarios for repairable system maintenance and operation. In addition to the component reliability, other configurable settings include:

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Maintenance Policies and System Downing Factors: Specify which type(s) of maintenance may be performed for a block (Corrective Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance and/or Inspection) and define the conditions under which each maintenance activity may be performed ( e.g. upon failure, upon fixed interval, upon system downing event, etc.). You can also specify whether the component continues to operate when the system is down, whether maintenance will bring the system down and whether to bring the system down to perform maintenance.

Maintenance Durations: Specify fixed times or use probabilistic distributions to describe the duration of the corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance and/or inspection activities.

Restoration Factors: Specify whether the item will be “as good as new” or less than 100% restored by the maintenance action. The software supports both the Kijima Type I model, which allows you to define maintenance that reduces a specified portion of the damage since the last repair only, and the Kijima Type II model, where the maintenance is assumed to reduce a specified portion of the total damage to the item. Enhanced in Version 7!

On-Condition Maintenance Factors: Specify a Failure Detection Threshold (percentage)or P-F Interval (time) to describe the period in which an oncoming failure can be detected via inspection to trigger PM. Enhanced in Version 7!

Duty Cycles: Use this option to define a duty cycle (e.g. a block may operate only X minutes out of every hour that the system operates) or as an acceleration factor (e.g. a block or phase may experience a different stress load than the other blocks or phases). New in Version 7!

Spare Parts Pools: Describe the conditions under which spare parts are available or can be obtained. The Spare Pool Policy allows you to specify the time to acquire parts, the ways in which re-stocks may be initiated and the logistics of emergency acquisition. To represent real-world conditions even more accurately for scheduling and resource allocation purposes, this can be combined with an Off-site Spare Pool Policy, which defines similar logic for the entity that supplies parts to your local depot. Enhanced in Version 7!

Maintenance Crews: Describe the conditions under which qualified personnel are available to perform maintenance, along with any logistical delays.

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Phase Diagrams and Maintenance Phases New in Version 7!
You can use BlockSim 7’s intuitive new Phase Diagram Sheets to model systems that go through different phases during the course of their operation. For example, some aircraft components (such as landing gear) operate only during the take-off and landing phases of a mission and others (such as engines) may experience a higher failure rate during these phases due to higher stress. Likewise, a manufacturing plant’s production may differ during the day shift and the night shift, and so on.

To model these types of situations, simply create an RBD to describe the system’s operation during each phase and use a Phase Diagram to describe how the system proceeds through the phases over time. Exclusively in BlockSim 7, you have the ability to completely change the system configuration and component properties from one phase to another.

In addition, the software provides the option to define Maintenance Phases to model scenarios in which a system goes directly to maintenance under specified conditions. For example, if a failure occurs on an aircraft during taxiing, it will go directly to maintenance and, once repaired, will start over again from the beginning of the mission -- not from where it was when the failure occurred, as prior RBD analyses were forced to assume. This flexibility provides a tremendous leap forward in the ability to simulate system operation more realistically.

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Throughput Analysis
Throughput analysis can be used to identify bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation and otherwise improve the processing efficiency of the system. To utilize BlockSim’s simulations for such analyses, simply specify the amount of throughput per unit time that a block can process and determine how to allocate throughput from block to block. Options include a weighted allocation based on throughput capacity or an equal allocation across all available paths. You can also define backlog processing characteristics and determine whether throughput will be allocated to failed blocks.

Variable Throughput: A system’s throughput may also vary over time. For example, the flow from an oil well may drop over time as the oil reserves are depleted or a manufacturing plant’s production may slowly ramp up to full capacity again after shut-down. Version 7 provides a choice of models (linear, exponential or power) to describe a system’s time dependent variable throughput within your simulation. New in Version 7!

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Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Whenever applicable, BlockSim 7 allows you to specify the direct and/or indirect costs associated with the maintenance strategies that you have defined, including costs related to downtime, maintenance crews, spares, etc. This allows you to perform a wide variety of life cycle cost analyses based on simulation results.

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