Jagtap, Hanumant P.Bewoor, Anand K.Kumar, RavinderAhmadi, Mohammad HosseinAssad, Mamdouh El HajSharifpur, Mohsen2022-08-022022-08-022021-11Jagtap, H.P., Bewoor, A.K., Kumar, R. et al. 2021, 'RAM analysis and availability optimization of thermal power plant water circulation system using PSO', Energy Reports, vol. 7, pp. 1133-1153, doi : 10.1016/j.egyr.2020.12.025.2352-484710.1016/j.egyr.2020.12.025https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86627This paper presents reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) analysis framework for evaluating the performance of a circulation system of water (WCS) used in a coal-fired power plant (CFPP). The performance of WCS is evaluated using a reliability block diagram (RBD), fault tree analysis (FTA), and Markov birth–death probabilistic approach. In this work, the system under study consists of five subsystems connected in series and parallel configuration namely condensate extraction pump (CEP), low-pressure feed water heater (LPH), deaerator (DR), boiler feed pump (BFP), high-pressure feed water heater (HPH). The reliability block diagram (RBD) and fault tree approach (FTA) have been employed for the performance evaluation of WCS. The Markov probabilistic approach based simulation model is developed. The transition diagram of the proposed model represented several states with full working capacity, reduced capacity, and failed state. The ranking of critical equipment is decided on the basis of criticality level of equipment. The study results revealed that the boiler feed pump affects the system availability at most, while the failure of deaerator affects it least. The availability of the system is optimized using the particle swarm optimization method. The optimized availability parameter (TBF, TTR) based modified maintenance strategy is recommended to enhance the availability of the plant system. The optimized failure rate and repair rate parameters of the subsystem are used to suggest a suitable maintenance strategy for the water circulation system of the thermal power plant. The proposed RAM framework helps the decision-makers to plan the maintenance activity as per the criticality level of subsystems and allocate the resources accordingly.en© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.Availability analysisMarkov approachParticle swarm optimization (PSO)Reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM)Reliability block diagram (RBD)Fault tree analysis (FTA)Circulation system of water (WCS)Engineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-04SDG-04: Quality educationEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-06SDG-06: Clean water and sanitationEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-07SDG-07: Affordable and clean energyEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-09SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructureEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-12SDG-12: Responsible consumption and productionEngineering, built environment and information technology articles SDG-13SDG-13: Climate actionArticle