This module covers the principles of reliability evaluation and the influence on maintenance strategies, costs and replacement decisions within engineering and airworthiness management. The module equips students with abilities to perform environmental audits on products and processes. It also presents the environmental impact assessment and ecological foot-printing of products and processes used in the critical realisation of current unsustainable engineering trends.

Fundamentals: concepts and formulae, hazard rate calculations, use of redundancy and considerations of implications on costs of purchase, operation and maintenance, system reliability using block diagram reduction and state transition analysis techniques. Reliability estimation: from observed failure characteristics, use of Weibull distribution, Weibull Hazard Plotting for censored data, Markov analysis including systems subject to repair. System availability and factors affecting this. Prediction of repair times. Part failure rate analysis, data sources, failure modes, effects and criticality analysis, influence of environment and operational modes, identification of areas for effort to improve reliability and techniques for doing so, load-strength relationships and [application of simulation] to this. Case study. Acceptance testing for reliability, confidence levels. Environmental testing: methods and instrumentation, effects of heat, humidity, corrosion, mechanical hazards eg shock loading and vibration, consideration of packaging and mounting, burn-in procedures. Fault-tree analysis and cost-benefit analysis. Safety. Replacement decision-making examples of deterministic and probabilistic analyses including [modelling and simulation], use of discounted cash-flow techniques, MAPI analysis, influence of depreciation and tax. Optimisation of the lifetime of products shifting towards a cradle-to-cradle concept, combined with a Product Lifecycle Analysis (PLCA). Packaging design and analysis. Redesign and reengineering to minimise parts and fasteners. Transport, distribution and reverse logistics. Renewable materials and energy, repair, reuse and recycling. Materials selection for sustainability.

Upon successful completion of this module students will be able to: - Define reliability and discuss its importance in manufacturing. - Calculate component reliability (or probability of failure), failure rate, and/or mean time to failure, when given details of the PDF of a components time to failure. - Calculate the reliability, failure rate and MTTF of systems (including redundant components) when given details of system configurations and component reliability. - Use Markov analysis to determine system reliability or the availability of systems subject to repair. - Use time dependent failure models, specifically Weibull, normal and lognormal distributions, to predict reliability. - Use Safety Analysis techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis, FMEA and Event Trees to evaluate the reliability of systems (including human error) and propose methods for improving reliability. - Evaluate the impact of maintenance on component/system reliability and determine when a maintenance strategy is appropriate. - Explain the impacts of products and processes on the environment - Undertake a series of environmental audits and ecological footprint assessments - Produce a core study report on the environmental sustainability of a selected product

Upon successful completion of this module students will be able to: - Demonstrate an understanding of issues relating to environmental sustainability, EMSs and also as to their application

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The module will be delivered online (distance learning) through the University's learning management system. Online lectures integrating active-learning tutorials ('lectorials'), with an emphasis on interactive engagement with students, will be used. The online lectures will include notes on power point slides, demonstrated examples and presentation of case studies from the aircraft maintenance and airworthiness management sector. While the programme will be predominantly delivered by distance learning, there may also be opportunities for industry visits.