A linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system is an ordered sequence of n components. This system fails if, and only if, k or more consecutive components fail. Optimal arrangement is one of the main problems for such kind of system. In this problem, we want to obtain an optimal arrangement of components to maximize system reliability, when all components of the system need not have equal component failure probability and all components are mutually statistically independent. As n becomes large, however, the amount of calculation would be too much to solve within a reasonable computing time even by using a high-performance computer. Hanafusa and Yamamoto proposed applying Genetic Algorithm (GA) to obtain quasi optimal arrangement in a linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system. GA is known as a powerful tool for solving many optimization problems. They also proposed ordinal representation, which produces only arrangements satisfying the necessary conditions for optimal arrangements and eliminates redundant arrangements with same system reliabilities produced by reversal of certain arrangements. In this paper, we propose an efficient GA. We have modified the previous work mentioned above to allocate components with low failure probabilities, that is to say reliable components, at equal intervals, because such arrangements seem to have relatively high system reliabilities. Through the numerical experiments, we observed that our proposed GA with interval k provides better solutions than the previous work for the most cases.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is an important measure of practical repairable systems, but it has not been obtained for a repairable linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system. We first present a general formula for the (steady-state) availability of a repairable linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system with nonidentical components by employing the cut set approach or a topological availability method. Second, we present a general formula for frequency of system failures of a repairable linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system with nonidentical components. Then the MTBF for the repairable linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system is shown by using the frequency of system failure and availability. Lastly, we derive some figures which show the relationship between the MTBF and repair rate µorρ(=λ/µ) in the repairable linear consecutive-k-out-of-n: F system. The figures can be easily used and are useful for reliability design.