Reliability, availability, and maintainability analysis of the propulsion system of a fleet

New systems are produced and developed to meet specific needs, and their reliability is the most important issue. In the maritime industry, evaluating failures in a ship's propulsion system results in high costs and the loss of prestige for the company. Land/sea fleet employees need to detect and minimize the failures that may occur in ship propulsion systems in advance to ensure the continuity of the ships' operations. In this study, the recorded failure data of four different ships belonging to a fleet in the last 10 years are used. Failures were examined as a whole since the ships have similar propulsion systems. The obtained failure data were grouped, and the average time to fix the failures was determined by the chief engineer and made suitable for reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) analysis. A suitable model was created for grouped failures by Isograph's RWB software. As a result of the analysis of the propulsion system and its subsystems, the main engine of the ship was shown to have the best reliability. Furthermore, the most important components were the cylinders of the main engine as subsystems. This study highlights the components that are important to the reliability of a propulsion system. Thanks to the RAM analysis, improvements can be pinpointed on a ship's propulsion system, which will increase the operations of the maritime industry. Reducing failures will further increase the confidence in maritime transport and strengthen its place among the modes of transportation. This study provides a valuable resource for academicians, experts, as well as companies working on reliability, availability, and maintainability in the future