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What Is A Fault Tree Analysis

Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a method to determine the causes of failure or test reliability in a system. It involves creating a visual fault tree diagram that shows the logical relationships between events and causes that lead to failure. This helps identify weaknesses, prioritize issues to address, and form a foundation for further analysis and testing when changes are made. FTA is useful in industries like nuclear power and aeronautics where failure has huge consequences. The analysis involves defining an undesired event, deducing its immediate causes, and stepping back to identify more basic causes to construct the fault tree diagram.

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175 views

What Is A Fault Tree Analysis

Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a method to determine the causes of failure or test reliability in a system. It involves creating a visual fault tree diagram that shows the logical relationships between events and causes that lead to failure. This helps identify weaknesses, prioritize issues to address, and form a foundation for further analysis and testing when changes are made. FTA is useful in industries like nuclear power and aeronautics where failure has huge consequences. The analysis involves defining an undesired event, deducing its immediate causes, and stepping back to identify more basic causes to construct the fault tree diagram.

Uploaded by

ummulkhair
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a Fault Tree Analysis?

A fault tree diagram is used to conduct fault tree analysis (or FTA). Fault tree
analysis helps determine the cause of failure or test the reliability of a system by
stepping through a series of events logically.
Benefits of Fault Trees
A fault tree creates a visual record of a system that shows the logical
relationships between events and causes lead that lead to failure. It helps others
quickly understand the results of your analysis and pinpoint weaknesses in the
design and identify errors.

A fault tree diagram will help prioritize issues to fix that contribute to a failure.

In many ways, the fault tree diagram creates the foundation for any further
analysis and evaluation.

For example, when changes or upgrades are made to the system, you already
have a set of steps to evaluate for possible effects and changes.

You can use a fault tree diagram to help you design quality tests and
maintenance procedures.
How FTAs are Used
Fault tree analysis is useful in engineering, especially in industries where failure
can have huge consequences such as nuclear power or aeronautics. However,
fault tree analysis can also be used during software development to debug
complex systems.
Fault Tree Diagram Symbols
There are two basic types of fault tree diagram notations: events and logic gates.
The primary or basic failure event is usually denoted with a circle. An external
event is usually depicted with a symbol that looks like a house. It's an event that
is normal and guaranteed or expected to occur. Undeveloped event usually
denotes something that needs no further breakdown or investigation or an
event for which no further analysis is possible because of a lack of information.
A conditioning event is a restriction on a logic gate in the diagram. These gate
symbols describe the Boolean relationship between outcomes.

Gate symbols can be the following:

 OR gate - An event occurs as long as at least one of the input events takes
place
 AND gate - An event occurs only if all input conditions are met
 Exclusive OR gate - An event occurs only if one of the input conditions is
met, not if all conditions are met
 Priority AND gate - This is probably the most restrictive scenario when an
event occurs only after a specific sequence of conditions
 Inhibit gate - An event will only occur if all input events take place as well
as whatever is described in a conditional event

How to Make a Fault Tree: Steps to


Fault Tree Analysis
1. Define the undesired event: the primary fault or failure being analyzed
2. Deduce the event's immediate causes
3. Keep stepping back through events until the most basic causes are
identified
4. Construct a fault tree diagram
5. Evaluate your fault tree analysis

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