Maintenance Decision Method Based on Risk Level

Maintenance decision method of the mechanical equipment still has some deficiencies and shortcomings, including unreasonable maintenance methods, surplus or insufficient repair, and unscientific inspection and repair intervals, especially for equipment with different risks. As a consequence, more frequent failures and higher maintenance costs of the mechanical equipment occur along with some major safety accidents and economic losses in the process of production. To overcome these problems, a framework for maintenance decision method based on risk level is presented for mechanical equipment in the petrochemical industry. First, 10 evaluation indexes and a set of scoring criteria quantifying the subjective evaluation are defined to evaluate the risk level of each mechanical equipment. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the weight of the evaluation indexes and the evaluation model of the risk levels were established. Then, the subjective effects in the scoring process were removed using the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) approach. Next, maintenance decision-making trees of the mechanical equipment were formulated by referencing the logic decision tree of reliability-centered maintenance. Finally, the feasibility of the framework was effectively verified by testing a well-control system in the oil field, for which the risk level and maintenance methods were obtained.