RELIABILITY ENGINEERING UNIT

ASST4403
Lecture 4: BASICS CONCEPTS FOR FMEA/FMECA

Learning outcomes
Demonstrate the ability to relate the fundamental failure terms to ones own situation D Demonstrate the h ability bili to analyse l an asset, using i the h metrics, to prepare for FMEA/FMECA Articulate failures or situations that are less suitable to use FMEA/FMECA for

What is FMEA (failure modes, modes effect analysis)?

A FMEA is a systemised group of activities intended to: a) recognise and evaluate the potential failure of a product/process and its effect effect, b) identify actions which could eliminate or reduce the chance of a potential failure fail re occurring, occ rring and c) document the process. SAE J1739 [3]
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BASIC CONCEPTS FOR FMEA/FMECA

The purpose of FMEA/FMECA

(FMECA = failure modes, effect and criticality analysis ) Identify failures having unwanted effects on system operation Satisfy contractual requirements of a customer Allow improvements of system reliability Allow improvements p of system y maintainability y

The objective of FMEA/FMECA

Identification/evaluation of all unwanted effects within system boundary and what the failure modes will cause Determination of criticality/priority for addressing/mitigating each failure mode Classification of the failure modes regarding g g detection, , diagnostics, testability, , repair, maintenance, logistics Identification of functional failures and estimation of measures of the severity and probability Development of design improvement plan for mitigating failure modes Support the development of maintenance plan to reduce the likelihood of failure
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Failure mode
One of the possible states of a failed item, for a given function
Example of a set of general failure modes
1 2 3 4 Failure during operation Failure to operate at a prescribed time Failure to cease operation at a prescribed time Premature operation

Class question:
What are the major failure modes of a car for you?

Failure mode determination

The use of the system The particular system element involved The mode of operation The operational specification The time constraints The Th environmental i t l stresses t The operational stresses
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Failure causes
A failure mode can have more than one cause Not always necessary to identify/describe depending on the h f failure il effects ff and d severity i May y be determined by y analysing y g field failures or test units. When design is new, expert opinion may be used

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Class question:
What are the causes to the major failure modes of th car? the ?

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Failure effects
Defined as the consequence of a failure mode in terms of the operation, operation function or status of a system May be caused by one or more failure modes of one or more items Consequences of each failure mode should be identified, evaluated and recorded y objectives j Consider maintenance activities and system Evaluate also the effect on higher level at each level
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Example: a set of failure effects (for a ) motor vehicle starter)

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Example: a failure effects probability

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Local failure effects

The effects of the failure mode on the system item under consideration id ti Consequences of each possible failure on the output of the item should be considered To provide basis for judgment when evaluating existing alternative provisions or devising recommended corrective actions
Example

If a battery gets flat, only its output will terminate, so the local effect will be no supply of current/voltage. B t if the But th battery b tt l leaks, k it may h have f far more severe and far-reaching effect.

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Failure effects at the system level (global ) effects)

Impact of a failure on the highest system level is d fi d/ defined/evaluated l t d by b analysing l i all ll intermediate i t di t levels. The end effect may be multiple failures
Example

Failure l of f a sprinkler kl system results l in a catastrophic h end effect only in the event that both the sprinkler system fails and there is a fire. fire
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Relationship between failure modes and y hierarchy y failure effects in a system

The definition of failure modes modes, causes and effects depend on the level of analysis and system failure criteria The failure effects identified at the lower level may become failure modes at the higher level The failure modes at the lower level may become the f il failure causes at t the th higher hi h l level l

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Class question:
What are the local/global effects of your cars car s failure modes?

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Detection methods
For each failure mode, one must determine the way th f the failure il i is d detected t t d and d th the means b by which hi h th the user/maintainer is made aware of the failure It may be implemented by
An automatic feature of the design (built-in test) Special checkout procedure before operating the system Inspection during maintenance activities At start up of the system or continuously during operation or at prescribed intervals

Failure detection and its annunciation must prevent hazardous operating conditions

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Failure mode detection evaluation criteria

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Class question:
How are the failure modes on your car detected?

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Failure compensating provisions

It is important to have design features to prevent or reduce the effect of the failure modes Redundant items allowing continued operation if f one or more elements fail Alternative means of operation Monitoring or alarm devices Means permitting effective operation or limiting damage

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compensating provisions

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Severity classification
Severity is an assessment of the significance of the f il failure modes d effect ff t on item it operation ti The classification is dependent on the application To do the assessment, consider Nature of the system related to the failure effect on users or environment The functional performance of the system Contractual requirements Government or industry safety requirements Requirements implied by warranty
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Example of severity classification for end effects

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Failure mode severity (SAE J1739)

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Criticality matrix

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Risk/criticality matrix

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SINGLE POINT/COMBINATION OF FAILURES & INDEPENDENT/DEPENDENT FAILURES

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When FMEA/FMECA is less suitable i bl

Difficult and tedious for the case of complex systems that have multiple functions involving different sets of system components Presenting any relationships between individual or groups of failure modes or causes of failure modes
since the main assumption of such analysis is independency of failure modes software/hardware/human ft /h d /h interactions i t ti and d interdependency

Analysis of multiple failure modes and dependency involving complex failure logic and redundancy Common C cause f failures il
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Cascading failures

Common cause failures (CCF)

A dependent failure in which two or more component fault states exist simultaneously, simultaneously or within a short time interval, and are a direct results of a shared cause (NUREG/CR 6268) (NUREG/CR-6268) A CCF may be caused by
Common design or material deficiency Common installation error Common maintenance error Common harsh environment

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Cascading failures (propagating failure)

Multiple failures initiated by the failure of one component in the system resulting in a chain reaction or domino domino effect Shared load will ill be re re-distributed distrib ted when hen one component fails Components influence each other through internal environment e.g. one component failure may lead to more hostile working environment for the others i i.e., e increased pressure, temperature, humidity etc
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C Cascading di failures f il

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