Course detail

Reliability and Maintainability of Aircraft

FSI-OSDAcad. year: 2025/2026

The course offers a general overview on modern methods of safety and reliability assessment with special attention on an aircraft and aircraft systems. This includes reliability analyses, calculations, estimates and test methods. Emphasis is put on the main properties of dependability: reliability, availability and safety.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

4

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Ing. Jiří Hlinka, Ph.D.

Department

Institute of Aerospace Engineering (LÚ)

Entry knowledge

Students are expected to have mastered the basics in statistics and probability calculations and they have at least basic knowledge of aerospace engineering (structure and systems of an aircraft).

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

To meet requirements for the course-unit credit award it is necessary to attend 80% of compulsory seminars, to hand in student works and meet requirements of 2 written tests.
The attendance at seminars is compulsory. In case of justified absence, the seminar may be compensated by an individual assignment.

Aims

The main course objective is to give students an introduction to procedures and methods used to ensure safety and dependability of an aircraft (and other industrial products).
The course provides students with basic knowledge of the area of dependability (reliability and maintainability) of aircraft. This includes information about modern methods and procedures for safety assessment (reliability analyses, etc) and information about international standards and airworthiness requirements.

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Holub,R.;Vintr,Z.: Spolehlivost letadlové techniky (elektronická učebnice), skripta, VUT-FSI, Brno, 2001 (CS)
O’Connor, P.: Practical Reliability Engineering, John Willey & sons, ISBN ISBN: 978-0-470-97981-5, 2012 (EN)
Rausand M., Hoyland A.: SYSTEM RELIABILITY THEORY, Models, Statistical Methods, and Applications, Wiley, ISBN 0-471-47133-X, 2004 (EN)
Villemeur, A.: Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety Assessment, Volume 1 and 2, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-471-93048-8 (vo.1), 978-0-471-93049-5 (vol.2), 1992 (EN)

Recommended reading

Not applicable.

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme N-LKT-P Master's

    specialization STL , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    specialization TLT , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Jiří Hlinka, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1.Concept of dependability (reliability and maintainability) assurance in aerospace engineering.
2.Terms and definitions in dependability.
3.Mathematics used in dependability. Basics of systems dependability.
4.Inherent dependability of products. Dependability (with focus on reliability) of non-repaired systems.
5.FMEA/FMECA.
6.Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD).
7.Fault Tree Analysis (FTA).
8.Dependability of repaired systems. State Space Method (SSM).
9.Reliability analyses and airworthiness certification.
10.Software reliability. Introduction to the reliability of space devices.
11.Evaluation of reliability tests and operational data.
12.Evaluation of reliability tests and operational data.
13. Software tools in dependability.

Exercise

13 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

doc. Ing. Jiří Hlinka, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1-2.Application of probability principles for the purpose of component reliability calculation.
3-5.Inherent reliability calculations for complex systems.
6.Application of FMEA/FMECA.
7-8.Application of reliability block diagrams (RBD) and fault trees (FTA).
9-11.Certification analysis of a representative aircraft system.
12-13.Evaluation of reliability tests and operational data.