Analysis of behaviour of an unreliable n-stage transfer line with (n − 1) inter-stage storage buffers

Abstract

This paper develops an efficient method to analyse the behaviour of an unreliable n-stage transfer line with (n − 1) finite inter-stage storage buffers. The n-stage line is decomposed into (n − 1) aggregate two-stage lines, for which analytical solutions are available. The method is developed through the examination of the steady state behaviour of the n-stage line and the decomposed lines, and the relationship between the failure and repair rates of the individual stages and the aggregate stages. Numerical and simulation experiments show that the method is efficient in computation and performs quite well.