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

REPROCESSING FACILITIES ARE COMPLEX CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL FACILITIES COMPRISING MANY WORKSTATIONS THAT MUST INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER. SIMULATION MODELING IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR PREDICTING HOW WELL WORKSTATIONS PERFORM TOGETHER TO ACHIEVEA FACILITY'S DEFINED REPROCESSING GOAL. HOWEVER, THE INCLUSION OF SPECIFIC FAILURE AND REPAIR INFORMATION IS VERYDIFFICULT WITH CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SIMULATION MODELS. THE INABILITY TO INCLUDE RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND MAINTAINABILITY (RAM) CONSIDERATIONS IN A SIMULATION MODEL MAKES THE RESULTS LESS ACCURATE AND POTENTIALLY MISLEADING. THIS PROJECT INVOLVES EXPANDING AN EXISTING SIMULATION PROGRAM SO THAT A DESIGN ENGINEER CAN EFFICIENTLY INCORPORATE RAM INFORMATION INTO A SIMULATION MODEL AND OBTAIN RAM INFORMATION USEFUL IN MAKING DESIGN DECISIONS. TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING SUCH SOFTWARE, THE FOLLOWING TECHNICAL APPROACH IS BEING FOLLOWED IN PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT: (1) COLLECT DATA ON THE DESIGN, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF A SELECTED REPROCESSING FACILITY; (2) DEVELOP AN EXAMPLE APPLICATION; (3) ANALYZE COMPONENT FAILURE AND REPAIR DATA; (4) SELECT EXISTING SIMULATION ANALYSIS SOFTWARE FOR A PERSONAL COMPUTER; (5) BUILD SIMULATION MODELS; (6) CALCULATE PRODUCTION AND RELIABILITY CHARACTERISTICS AND IDENTIFY IMPORTANT COMPONENTS; AND (7) DOCUMENT THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ONTHE FEASIBILITY OF INCORPORATING RAM ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES INTO SIMULATION MODELING. PHASE II WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPINGRAM-BASED SIMULATION SOFTWARE FOR REPROCESSING FACILITY DESIGNERS. PHASE III WILL FOCUS ON PROMOTING WIDE USE OF THE SOFTWARE BY OFFERING A SHORT TRAINING COURSE (PERHAPS 2 DAYS) TO TEACH DESIGN ENGINEERS HOW (1) TO DEVELOP INPUT INFORMATION, (2) TO OBTAIN THE RAM-BASED RESULTS USING THE DEVELOPED SIMULATION SOFTWARE, AND (3) TO USE THESE RESULTS FOR DECISION-MAKING.