Background
The course belongs to the large envelope of RAMS courses which are thought at the department of Production and Quality Engineering at NTNU. The course is adminstred by the RAMS group at this department. It is expected that the students have taken (or have relevant background corresponding to):
- TPK 4120: Safety and Reliability
- TPK 4140: Maintenance Management
- TPK 5160: Risk Analysis
This course replaces the earlier arrangement with two specialization modules in RAMS, one in risk and reliability and one in maintenance optimization (each with 3.75 credit points). Now, the course is a stand-alone course that does not cover the previous content of the two specialization modules. It is therefore important to emphasize that the course is a regular master course, required in relation to taking a master in RAMS, but should not be regarded as a specialization course that support all types of student projects in the RAMS area.
About the course
The course is a continuation of reliability, availability, maintenance, and safety (RAMS) methods with special emphasis methods applicable for assessment of critical systems. Topics to be covered for safety-critical systems are: How to define requirements for safety systems and barriers, and how to assess the reliability of safety instrumented systems within key frameworks like IEC 61508, a standard that is frequently used for safety-critical systems. The course may be regarded as an extension of TPK 4120, but is perhaps more of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative topics.
Course material
The course is using the following book: https://www.ntnu.edu/ross/books/sis, with the support of some standards, reports, and articles as appropriate.
Course objective and motivation
The main objective of this course is to increase the depth of understanding about RAMS assessment and optimization models and methods. Such models and methods may be useful for several purposes, including:
- Definition of requirements (how reliable must a system be?)
- Implementation of requirements (how should we design the system in order to meet stated reliability?)
- How may we operate the system in order to minimize costs and time?
- How may it be required to operate the system to be sufficiently safe?
- How can we support our models and methods with data, and can these data be determined?
As already mentioned, the course aims to study already lectured methods and models in more detail, to add more perspectives to the understanding. Some new models methods are also introduced so that the students, after having taken the course, will have a solid toolbox of models and methods to use in their future work career. The lectured methods may also be used in the master project in the last semester.
Expected learning outcome
Knowledge: Basic insight into the theoretical foundation and practical applications of RAMS assessment and optimization, applied on critical (usually, safety-critical) systems
Skills: Recognizing standard situations related to reliability assessment of safety-critical systems, and be able to develop reasoning for more complicated situations. Solve optimization problems in practice. Assess RAMS performance for systems.
General competence: Understand RAMS as an important cornerstone of industrial and commercial systems and in the public administration.
Other information
There will be mandatory course work, and the exam is written (4 hours, simple calculator)
Industry relevance
Reliability assessments of safety-critical systems are key services provided by many consultancy companies, such as with Safetec, Lloyd's Register Consulting, and DNV-GL (link to the GL-part of the services), and Lilleaker Consulting. Manufacturers like ABB, Siemens, AkerSolutions, FMC, Kongsberg Maritime and many others need to design systems in light of reliability requirements, and also demonstrate (sometimes with assistance of the consultancy companies) that the reliability requirements are met. End users, like railway service providers like Jernbaneverket, oil companies like Statoil, Det Norske, GDF-Suez, Shell and Conoco-Phillips, and Wintershall, and other industries like smelting plants and water power suppliers must be competent to select proper system design, follow up the system performance and select the most suitable maintenance strategies to keep costs and safety within the accepetable limits.