ABSTRACT
Fault tree analysis is one of the most important techniques for system modeling and has been widely used in risk assessments together with event tree models. A fault tree is a graphic representation of the logical relationships between events in a system which result in a prespecified undesired state of it, defined as the top-event of the fault tree. Modularization is performed in a bottom-up tree traversal, and the modules are numbered in the order in which they are created. The modularization theory exposed is quite general and includes any other module concept for binary systems presented up to date. The algorithm for modularization consists of two parts. First, the system structure is handled and optimized. Second, the modularization is carried out. The most frequently used analytical methods for fault tree analysis are based on the determination of the minimal cut sets. The resulting fault tree serves as input to the modularization process.
