An optimal replacement policy under variable shocks and self-healing patterns

Abstract: We study a system that experiences damaging external shocks at stochastic intervals, continuous degradation, and self-healing. The motivation for such a system comes from real-life applications based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). The system fails if the cumulative damage exceeds a time-dependent threshold. We develop a preventive maintenance policy to replace the system such that its lifetime is prudently utilized. Further, three variations on the healing pattern have been considered: (i) shocks heal for a fixed duration $\tau$; (ii) a fixed proportion of shocks are non-healable (that is, $\tau=0$); (iii) there are two types of shocks -- self healable shocks heal for a finite duration, and nonhealable shocks inflict a random system degradation. We implement a proposed preventive maintenance policy and compare the optimal replacement times in these new cases to that of the original case where all shocks heal indefinitely and thereby enable the system manager to take necessary decisions in generalized system set-ups.