A SURVEY OF EFFICIENT RELIABILITY COMPUTATION USING DISJOINT PRODUCTS APPROACH

Several algorithms have been developed to solve the reliability problem for nonseries-parallel networks using the sum of disjoint products (SDP) approach. This paper provides a general framework for most of these techniques. It reviews methods that help improve computer time and memory requirements in reliability computation. These parameters are generally used to compare SDP algorithms. We also overview three multiple variable inversion algorithms that result in sum of disjoint products expressions with fewer terms than that of algorithms that use only a single-variable inversion. One common network is solved for two-terminal network reliability using each of these algorithms. Finally, we have provided a comparison among these techniques. (C) 1995 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.