Methodologic Research  

 

This GTR as of 1989 succeeded to a group created as of 1974 jointly by  CEA/IPSN and EDF to settle methods, means and tools in the field “reliability” beginning at that time. The GTR audience has regularly grown up to an equilibrium regime resulting of the balance between starts and arrivals. The present 70 members come from various origins: big companies, academics, consultance, ensurance, « active » pensioned people. Since 1996, the group got acquainted with ESRA at European level. (European Safety and Reliability Association). Functioning on a participative mode, the time tables  include 3 to 4 yearly meetings(always a full day) supported by IMdR news and conferences followed by debates between attendees. Usually at least one meeting is hold in the provinces every year.

 

• OBJECTIVES

 

Track al innovation as far as methods, means and tools related to dependability :

 

- Technology watch  : inform and debate upon new technologies,

- Reveal new industrial needs related to dependability : establish links between Industry and Academics,
- Determine topics of interest for multipartners projects;
- Measure adequation of methods and tools to actual industry needs;
- Work out and publish Test Cases;
- Be an exchange place and share of actual experience;
- Popularize and spread mathematical methods : i.e.Wikipedia sheet upon fault trees ;
- Link with ESRA.

 

• WORKING SUBGROUPS

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To face the whole of its objectives, the GTR has settled working subgroups to deal with specific particular problems : test cases(European Link with ESRA), GéNIAL (Quality of random numbers generators),Formal Languages  (Orientation towards dependability of computer / automatism methods). At first these groups were not to become permanent, nevertheless the group “Bayesian Methods” has existed many years before being replaced by the group “Probabilist Networks applied to Risk Mastering and Dependability”

 

• GTR PRODUCTS

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As of 1990 proposal of many projects (in "project IMdR"acception) successfully performed (i.e. :state of the art in dynamic reliability, estimate of failure probability at  sollicitation, state of the art on Bayesian approach….),
Implementation of « test cases » battery to evaluate and compare tools and methods;
Organization of  tools demonstrations :dedicated working days and dependability symposia;
Began the association Academics/ Industry which developped the ARALIA software to treat fault trees with BDD technics (Binary Decision Diagrams);
Wikipedia sheet upon fault trees.

 

• RECENT MEETING TOPICS

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During the last years, the GTR has devoted  metings to important and big thematics (Big due to their big application field) such as uncertainty management, bayesian networks, maintenance optimization, but also to more acute questions such as Importance Factor Calculation, Test Cases and Tools..The active watch conducted by the group did not permit to detect new « technological break »such as BDD in the field of boolean function treatment, hence it appeared more useful to devote to a better spreading of reliability knowledge. To that end, a writing work of methodological sheets on basic methods has been launched. Such sheets do exist in English but not in French. The first sheet finished in Wikipedia deals with Fault trees, this paper has been visited around 40 times a day (begin of 2014 consultation).

 

If you are interested by this GTR activity ,please contact animator : Marc BOUISSOU (EDF)