The propagation of faults in process plants—Introduction

Reliability Engineering and System Safety 39 (1993) 171

The propagation of faults in process plants--lntroduction F. P . L e e s

In 1986 Professor F. P. Lees and Dr B. E. Kelly published a set of four papers (Vol. 16 (1)) on The Propagation of Faults in Process Plants, dealing with the qualitative modelling of fault propagation and with the application of such modelling to computer-aided fault tree synthesis. The suite of four papers dealt with the modelling of fault propagation; fault tree synthesis; an interactive, computer-based facility based on the fault tree synthesis program FAULTFINDER; and an illustrative example of fault tree synthesis for a pump changeover system. This was followed by a fifth paper with other colleagues (Vol. 23) giving a further illustrative example for a vaporiser. The set of five papers which follow extend this work by tackling some of the problems which arise in practical fault tree synthesis. The sixth paper (i.e. first in this volume) gives an overview and up-dating of the modelling methodology; the seventh, eighth and ninth papers deal with particular structural features, namely dividers and headers, control loops, and trip loops; and the tenth paper describes developments in the tree synthesis.

F. P. Lees

Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University of Technology, Leicestershire, UK

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