System Reliability Assessment and Optimization: Methods and Applications

This book offers a comprehensive overview of recently developed methods for assessing and optimizing system reliability. It consists of two main parts, for treating assessment methods and optimization methods, respectively. The first part covers methods of multi-state system reliability modelling and evaluation, Markov processes, Monte Carlo simulation and uncertainty analysis. The methods considered range from piecewise-deterministic Markov processes to belief function analysis. The second part covers optimization methods of mathematical programming and evolutionary algorithms, and problems of multi-objective optimization and optimization under uncertainty. The methods of this part range from non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm to robust optimization. The book also includes the application of the assessment and optimization methods considered on real case studies, particularly with respect to the reliability assessment and optimization of renewable energy systems, and bridges the gap between theoretical method development and engineering practice.