SOURCES OF FAILURES OF ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

Abstract

This paper looks into the general concepts of failures of engineering systems. It started by defining what an engineering system is, what a failure is, and what it means when an engineering system is said to fail. It then went further to differentiate between sources and causes of failure; which means what, and which helps the overall condition of the system as far as the field of reliability is concerned. Some techniques such as the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) & “the 5-Why” used in determining the root cause (or sources) of failures of engineering systems were highlighted and explained. The general sources of failures of engineering systems were listed bearing in mind that an endless list is imminent if we are to name individually the sources of failure of engineering systems. Lastly, the paper presents FRACAS which is one of the systems or processes used by engineers in collecting failure data, analyzing the riskiest failures to get to the root cause and implement corrective actions. The corrective action part of this process is the area of concentration here, because mere analysis of failure without taking corrective action amounts to nothing