ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the peculiar aspects of repairable systems and discusses methods used to determine the failure characteristics of these systems, as well as the methods for predicting their reliability and availability. Repairable items are not replaced following the occurrence of a failure; rather, they are repaired and put into operation again. For these items, the probability that a failure will not occur over a period of time is referred to as items reliability. This can be expressed in terms of the rate of occurrence of failure (ROCOF). Under the condition of constant failure rate, repairable item reliability can also be characterized by the mean time between failure (MTBF). The chapter focuses on the notion of availability. It presents probabilistic and statistical models that are used in determining the failure characteristics of repairable items and their reliability. The chapter defines the concept of availability and explains availability evaluation methods for repairable items.
