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Optimal allocation of components in parallel–series and series–parallel systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Emad El-Neweihi ,
Frank Proschan  and
Jayaram Sethuraman
Emad El-Neweihi*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois
Frank Proschan*
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Jayaram Sethuraman*
Affiliation:
Florida State University
*
∗Postal address: Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60680, USA.
∗∗Postal address: Department of Statistics and Statistical Consulting Center, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
∗∗Postal address: Department of Statistics and Statistical Consulting Center, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.
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Abstract

This paper shows how majorization and Schur-convex functions can be used to solve the problem of optimal allocation of components to parallel-series and series-parallel systems to maximize the reliability of the system. For parallel-series systems the optimal allocation is completely described and depends only on the ordering of component reliabilities. For series-parallel systems, we describe a partial ordering among allocations that can lead to the optimal allocation. Finally, we describe how these problems can be cast as integer linear programming problems and thus the results obtained in this paper show that when some linear integer programming problems are recast in a different way and the techniques of Schur functions are used, complete solutions can be obtained in some instances and better insight in others.

Keywords

RELIABILITYSCHUR FUNCTIONSINTEGER PROGRAMMING
Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Applied Probability , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 1986 , pp. 770 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1986 

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Footnotes

†

Research sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Systems Command, USAF, under Grant Numbers AFOSR 80–0170 and AFOSR 82–K–0007. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon.

‡

Research supported by the U.S. Army Research under Grant DAAG 29–82–K–0168.

References

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