FUZZY SYSTEM RELIABILITY-ANALYSIS BY THE USE OF T-OMEGA (THE WEAKEST T-NORM) ON FUZZY NUMBER ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS

In general, the sup-min convolution has been used for fuzzy arithmetic to analyze fuzzy system reliability, where the reliability of each sy stem component is represented by fuzzy numbers. it is well known that T-omega-based addition preserves the shape of L-R type fuzzy numbers. In this paper, we show T-omega-based multiplication also preserves the shape of L-R type fuzzy numbers. We then apply T-omega-based arithmet ic operations to fuzzy system reliability analysis. In fact, we show t hat we can simplify fuzzy arithmetic operations and even get the exact solutions for L-R type fuzzy system reliability, while others [Singer , Fuzzy Sets Syst. 34 (1990) 145; Cheng and Mon, Fuzzy Sets Syst. 56 ( 1993) 29; Chen, Fuzzy Sets Syst. 64 (1994) 31] have got the approximat e solutions using sup-min convolution for evaluating fuzzy system reli ability. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.