INCORPORATION OF RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND MAINTAINABILITY ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES INTO SIMULATION MODELING

THE COMPLEX CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL REPROCESSING FACILITIES ARE MADE UP OF MANY SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS THAT MUST INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER. SIMULATION MODELING IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR PREDICTING HOW WELL SYSTEMS AND SUBSYSTEMS PERFORM TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A FACILITY'S DEFINED REPROCESSING GOAL. HOWEVER, WITH CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SIMULATION SOFTWARE IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO INCLUDE SPECIFIC FAILURE AND REPAIR INFORMATION IN THE SIMULATION MODEL. NOT BEING ABLE TO INCLUDE RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND MAINTAINABILITY (RAM) CONSIDERATIONS IN A SIMULATION MODEL MAKES THE RESULTS LESS ACCURATE AND POTENTIALLY MISLEADING. THEREFORE, IT IS PLANNED TO DEVELOP RAM INTERFACE SOFTWARE FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS THAT WILL HELP DESIGNERS EFFICIENTLY INCORPORATE RAM TECHNIQUES INTO EXISTING PROCESS SIMNULATION SOFTWARE AND PROVIDE RAM-BASED RESULTS NEEDED TO REDUCE THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE PERFORMANCE OF FACILITY DESIGN (E.G., THE EXPECTED THROUGHPUT WITH FAILURE AND REPAIR ADDRESSED). TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING SUCH SOFTWARE, THE FOLLOWING TECHNICAL APPROACH FOR PHASE I WILL BE USED: (1) COLLECT DATA ON A REPROCESSING FACILITYS DESIGN, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE AND SELECT A PORTION OF THE FACILITY TO STUDY, (2) SELECT A SIMULATION SOFTWARE PACKAGE THAT CAN EASILY EXCHANGE DATA WITH OTHER SOFTWARE PACKAGES, (3) DEVELOP A RAM-ANALYSIS INTERFACE THAT COMMUNICATES WITH THE SELECTED SIMULATION SOFTWARE, (4) OBTAIN RAM-BASED PROCESS SIMULATION RESULTS FOR THE EXAMLE ANALYSIS, AND (5) DOCUMENT THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ON THE FEASIBILITY OF INCORPORATING RAM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES INTO SIMULATION MODELING. PHASE II WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING RAM-INTERFACE SOFTWARE THAT CAN BE USED WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF SIMULATION SOFTWARE PACKAGES. PHASE III WILL FOCUS ON PROMOTING WIDE USE OF THE RAM INTERFACE SOFTWARE BYOFFERING A TRAINING COURSE (PERHAPS 2 TO 3 DAYS) TO TEACH DESIGN ENGINEERS HOW TO DEVELOP INPUT INFORMATION, OBTAIN THE RAM-BASED RESULTS USING THE DEVELOPED SIMULATION SOFTWARE, AND USE THESE RESULTS FOR DECISION MAKING.