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What is

Fault Tree
Analysis

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Fault Tree Analysis

Fault Trees And Reliability Block Diagrams

History of Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is another technique for reliability and safety
analysis. Bell Telephone Laboratories developed the concept in 1962 for the
U.S. Air Force for use with the Minuteman system. It was later adopted and
extensively applied by the Boeing Company. Fault tree analysis is one of
many symbolic "analytical logic techniques" found in operations research
and in system reliability. Other techniques include Reliability Block Diagrams
(RBDs).

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Fault Tree Analysis

Introduction:
Fault tree analysis is a logical, structured process that can help identify potential
causes of system failure before the failures actually occur. Fault trees are
powerful design tools that can help ensure that product performance objectives
are met. Sandia has a tremendous depth and breadth of experience in applying
fault tree analysis to analyze system safety and reliability. Fault tree applications
at Sandia include manufacturing equipment, automotive subsystems, aircraft,
nuclear power plants, and weapons systems.

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Benefits:

Fault Tree Analysis

Identify possible system reliability or safety problems at design time,

Assess system reliability or safety during operation,
Improve understanding of the system,
Identify components that may need testing or more rigorous quality assurance
scrutiny, and
Identify root causes of equipment failures.
Capabilities:
Fault tree analysis and failure modes and effects analysis,
Design for reliability,
Design for safety.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Fault Trees And Reliability Block Diagrams

What is a Fault Tree Diagram (FTD)?

Fault tree diagrams (or negative analytical trees) are logic block diagrams
that display the state of a system (top event) in terms of the states of its
components (basic events). Like reliability block diagrams (RBDs), fault tree
diagrams are also a graphical design technique, and as such provide an
alternative to methodology to RBDs.
An FTD is built top-down and in term of events rather than blocks. It uses a
graphic "model" of the pathways within a system that can lead to a
foreseeable, undesirable loss event (or a failure). The pathways interconnect
contributory events and conditions, using standard logic symbols (AND, OR
etc). The basic constructs in a fault tree diagram are gates and events,
where the events have an identical meaning as a block in an RBD and the
gates are the conditions.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Fault Trees And Reliability Block Diagrams

Fault Trees and Reliability Block Diagrams

The most fundamental difference between FTDs and RBDs is that in an RBD
one is working in the "success space", and thus looks at system successes
combinations, while in a fault tree one works in the "failure space" and looks
at system failure combinations. Traditionally, fault trees have been used to
access fixed probabilities (i.e. each event that comprises the tree has a fixed
probability of occurring) while RBDs may have included time-varying
distributions for the success (reliability equation) and other properties, such
as repair/restoration distributions.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Drawing Fault Trees: Gates and Events

Fault trees are built using gates and events (blocks). The two most
commonly used gates in a fault tree are the AND and OR gates. As an
example, consider two events (or blocks) comprising a Top Event (or a
system). If occurrence of either event causes the top event to occur, then
these events (blocks) are connected using an OR gate. Alternatively, if both
events need to occur to cause the top event to occur, they are connected by
an AND gate. As a visualization example, consider the simple case of a
system comprised of two components, A and B, and where a failure of either
component causes system failure. The system RBD is made up of two blocks
in series as shown next:

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Fault Tree Analysis

Drawing Fault Trees: Gates and Events

The fault tree diagram for this system includes two basic events connected
to an OR gate (which is the "Top Event"). For the "Top Event" to occur,
either A or B must happen. In other words, failure of A OR B causes the
system to fail.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Relationships Between Fault Trees and RBDs

In general (and with some specific exceptions), a fault tree can be easily
converted to an RBD. However, it is generally more difficult to convert an
RBD into a fault tree, especially if one allows for highly complex
configurations. The following table shows gate symbols commonly used in
fault tree diagrams and describes their relationship to an RBD.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Table for symbols

Example
Page 12

Example
Page 13

Example
Page 14

Example
Page 15

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Fault Tree Analysis

Table for symbols

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Fault Tree Analysis

Table for
symbols

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Fault Tree Analysis

Events
The gates in a fault tree are the logic symbols that interconnect contributory
events and conditions. An event (or a condition) block in a fault tree is the
same as a standard block in an RBD, in that it can have a probability of
occurrence (or a distribution function). However, unlike traditional RBDs,
where a single graphical representation is utilized to represent the block (or
event), fault trees use several graphical block representations. Table 4
discusses these graphical representations.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Symbols for Events

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Examples

Fault Tree Analysis

Example 1
A fault tree diagram with a Voting Gate and the RBD equivalent.

Example 2
Fault Trees and Complex RBDs: The best example of a complex reliability block diagram
is the so called "bridge." The following RBD represents such a bridge.

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Fault Tree Analysis

Examples

Representation of this bridge as a fault tree diagram requires the utilization of

duplicate events, since gates can only represent components in series and parallel. An
inspection of this system reveals that any of the following failures will cause the
system to fail:
Failure of components 1 and 2.
Failure of components 3 and 4.
Failure of components 1 and 5 and 4.
Failure of components 2 and 5 and 3.
In probability terminology, we have:
(1 And 2) Or (3 And 4) Or (1 And 5 And 4) Or (2 And 5 And 3).

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Examples

Fault Tree Analysis

These sets of events are also called minimal cut sets. It can now be seen how the fault
tree can be created by representing the above set of events in the following fault tree.

Conversion of the above fault tree to an RBD (note that components with same name
are mirrored blocks).

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Fault Tree Analysis

Additional Resources and Publications on this site

Additional Resources and Publications on this site
System Reliability Reference
Fault Tree Diagrams and System Analysis
Additional Resources and Publications on other sites
Fault Tree Handbook (NUREG-0492)
Systems and Reliability Research, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001
FAULT TREE ANALYSIS A Special Bibliography from the NASA Scientific
and Technical Information (STI) Program.
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/new/fta34.pdf

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