bitity Analysis of Protective Systems

Background

systems, such as pressure vessel relief valves, function to Prevent or mitigate

:nce of incidents. This section shows how to determine the probability that a
system will be in a failed state when a demand on that svstem occurs.

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processes, as well as ind.ividual pieces of equipment, are Protected by specific
ion ,yr,.rns. Protection can be achieved by various means) but is usually of rwo
prot..tirr. systems thar relieve excessive energy (e.g., relief valves) and those that
'rh.
(..g., alrrm and shutdown svstems). Protective systems, unlike many
"...gr'
systems, can fail in nvo distinct rvays:
process

l. Protective systems can fail in manner such that failure is revealed (e.g', a ruP-
a

rure disc that fails premarurely due to cyctic fatigue at the normal oP€rating
condition of the pro..r, equipmenr). If rhe discharge from the system has been
designed properiy, no hazard will result; but there could be economic implica-
tioni such as losr and off-spec product, and process dorvndme.
2. protective systems fail to function on demand allorving design conditions to be
exceeded. In this failure pathway, the failure is unrevealed until the demand
occurs (e.g., a high-pressure switch fails to shut down a pump)'

Although revealed failures of a protective system are important in considering

borh safery and reliabiliry, unrevealed failures are also important.
is of
The failure to function of particular systems for long periods of mission time
unr'evealed
major importance. A parameter that is also very useful rvhen considering
on demand or
failures in protectiv. ,yrr..rr is che unavailabiliry or probabiliry of failure
parame-
fractional dead time (FDT). These terms are synonymous in this context' This
tcr is a probabiliry and is the average fraction of time that the Protective system is
in
unavailable to do its assigned function. FDT will be used to idendfv this pararneter
the remainder of the section.

APPLICATIONS
ways'
Knowledge of the FDT of a Protective comPonent or syste m can be used in many
Such infoimation can provide direct input into a fault tree (Section 3'2'I), especially