Drastic Cut of Man's Work in Reliability Studies by Using an Expert System

We show here how we have been able, thanks to the use of a r t i f i c a l intell igence techniques, to f ind a neat solution to the problem of the automat ion of r e l i a b i l i t y studies. We have introduced rule-based representation at two levels : the modelling of the studied system, which is very general and versat i le , and nevertheless quantif iable because of the rule-base representation. the storage of the r e l i a b i l i t y engineers knowledge about fa i lure modes and effects for conventional components. The productivi ty of the r e l i a b i l i t y studies has been substantial ly improved with this approach.