Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Transport Technology / Logistic Engineering



S. de Jongh Reliability and Availability using simulation
Literature survey, Report 2001.LT.5443, Transport Technology, Logistic Engineering.


This paper describes how reliability and availability of Materials handling systems can be investigated using discrete-event simulation. First discrete-event simulation is explained. Then Reliability of components and (sub)systems as well as ways to improve them are described.

There are different methods to model availability and reliability, of which Petri nets, Fault tree analysis and Markov chains are the most important. These techniques are mostly used in simulation studies about reliability and availability.

Since published papers about reliability and availability in the Materials handling industry are scarce, general papers about Reliability and availability are described and an attempt is made to identify which of these techniques can be used in the Materials handling industry. Promising methods are Fault trees analysis and Petri nets, although they require big efforts.

To simulate availability and reliability, the next tools have been used in the mentioned papers:


Reports on Logistic Engineering (in Dutch)
Modified: 2001.03.13; logistics@3mE.tudelft.nl , TU Delft / 3mE / TT / LT.