Methods for the System Analysis

Historically, NASA is often mentioned, which described FMEA ( Failure Mode and Effects Analysis ) methodology first for the failure analysis for the project 

In 1977 Ford introduced an alternative, the fault tree analysis as well as dynamic event trees, to the automobile industry. In Germany this alternative was described in DIN 25 448. NASA adopted it shortly after and it was soon also introduced to other 

However, failure analyses have been carried out long before that. The first failure analyses were based on methods brought to the US from German scientists after the Second World War but also in other industries some methods developed and became standards. This chapter will also cover reliability block diagrams (which can be certainly directly derived from Lusser s law) as weU as HAZOP (hazard and operability) analysis, which has its roots in the chemical industiy as well as the oil and gas industry. 

The classical Design-FMEA considers mechanical components and its aim was the adequate design and resulting characteristics. From an exploded view of a component the detail characteristics had been evaluated and the consequences of certain deviation from nominal or defined tolerance had been analyzed (Fig. 4.30). 

The automobile associations like VDA and AIAG have described the essential methods in this context. Standards had been improved in other industries based on their requirements. FMEA is according to ISO 26262 an inductive method for the safety analysis. However, all FMEA methods in the automobile industry are widely based on the sequence of failure cause, failure and failure effect. The kind of measures to improve the product or avoid, mitigate errors, or their propagation had been defined and applied differently in the standards. The evaluation factors of failures are called as follows  

---