With the release of Version 7, BlockSim’s discrete event simulation engine is more sophisticated and realistic than ever. Although you can perform basic simulations with minimal setup, the software also provides tremendous flexibility to define the simulation options to meet your specific needs for reliability, maintainability, throughput, life cycle cost, asset management and related analyses.
Maintenance Properties and Policies
By defining individual block properties and "policies" (which can be shared throughout the project), you can model a wide variety of scenarios for repairable system maintenance and operation. In addition to the component reliability, other configurable settings include:
- Maintenance Policies and System Downing Factors: Specify which type(s) of maintenance may be performed for a block (Corrective Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance and/or Inspection) and define the conditions under which each maintenance activity may be performed (e.g. upon failure, upon fixed interval, upon system downing event, etc.). You can also specify whether the component continues to operate when the system is down, whether maintenance will bring the system down and whether to bring the system down to perform maintenance.
- Maintenance Durations: Specify fixed times or use probabilistic distributions to describe the duration of the corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance and/or inspection activities.
- Restoration Factors: Specify whether the item will be "as good as new" or less than 100% restored by the maintenance action. The software supports both the Kijima Type I model, which allows you to define maintenance that reduces a specified portion of the damage since the last repair only, and the Kijima Type II model, where the maintenance is assumed to reduce a specified portion of the total damage to the item.
- On-Condition Maintenance Factors: Specify a Failure Detection Threshold (percentage)or P-F Interval (time) to describe the period in which an oncoming failure can be detected via inspection to trigger PM.
- Duty Cycles: Use this option to define a duty cycle (e.g. a block may operate only X minutes out of every hour that the system operates) or as an acceleration factor (e.g. a block or phase may experience a different stress load than the other blocks or phases).
- Spare Parts Pools: Describe the conditions under which spare parts are available or can be obtained. The Spare Pool Policy allows you to specify the time to acquire parts, the ways in which re-stocks may be initiated and the logistics of emergency acquisition. To represent real-world conditions even more accurately for scheduling and resource allocation purposes, this can be combined with an Off-site Spare Pool Policy, which defines similar logic for the entity that supplies parts to your local depot.
- Maintenance Crews: Describe the conditions under which qualified personnel are available to perform maintenance, along with any logistical delays.
Enhanced in Version 7!
Enhanced in Version 7!
New in Version 7!
Enhanced in Version 7!
