Reliability Optimization of a Series System with Multiple-Choice and Budget Constraints

Abstract

This paper considers a reliability optimization problem for a series system with multiple-choice constraints incorporated at each subsystem to maximize the system reliability subject to the system budget. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear binary integer programming problem and characterized as an NP-hard problem. In the problem analysis, some solution properties are characterized to reduce the solution space in advance. A branch-and-bound solution algorithm is then derived based on the reduced solution space to search for the optimal solution. The algorithm is tested for its efficiency with randomly generated numerical examples. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.