M.

Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Fault Tree Analysis

Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3
Fault Tree Analysis ................................................................................................... 3
Basic Events ............................................................................................................ 4
Advantages ............................................................................................................. 4
Limitations .............................................................................................................. 4
Notation................................................................................................................... 5
General Procedure for Fault Tree Analysis........................................................ 6
Rules of Fault Tree Construction ......................................................................... 7
Considerations...................................................................................................... 11
Fault Tree Evaluation ............................................................................................. 12
Boolean Algebra ................................................................................................... 12
The OR Gate ....................................................................................................... 12
The AND Gate.................................................................................................... 12
Qualitative Analysis ............................................................................................ 14
Minimal Cut Sets ............................................................................................... 14
Criticality............................................................................................................ 14
Quantitative Analysis.......................................................................................... 16
Common-Cause Failures..................................................................................... 16
References................................................................................................................. 18

Fault Tree Analysis – Page 1

CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Fault Tree Analysis – Page 2

M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Introduction
 there is a need to analyze all the possible failure mechanisms in complex
systems (e.g. nuclear power plants)
 also perform probabilistic analyses for the expected rate of failures
 estimate probabilities of events that are modelled as logical combinations
or logical outcomes of other random events
 two main methods:
z fault tree analysis
z event tree analysis
 decision trees also exist and are used in risk analysis (combines all
feasible alternatives, possible outcomes and their probabilities, monetary
consequences and utility evaluations)
 other graphical methods include
z reliability block diagrams
z functional logic diagrams
z Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Fault Tree Analysis

A technique by which many events that interact to produce other events can be
related using simple logical relationships.

 a good reference is NRC “The Fault Tree Handbook”

(http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0492/sr0492.pdf)
 also Chapter 8 and 10 in McCormick (1981)
 one of the principal methods of probabilistic safety (or risk) analysis
(PRA)
 developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1962 for the U.S. Air Force
Minuteman system, later adopted and extensively used by Boeing
Company
 fault tree diagrams
z are used most often as a system-level risk assessment technique
z can model the possible combinations of equipment failures, human
errors, and external conditions that can lead to a specific type of
accident
z follow a top-down structure and represent a graphical model of the
pathways within a system between basic events that can lead to a
foreseeable loss event (or a failure) referred to as the top event
 the contributory events and conditions are interconnected using standard
logic symbols (AND, OR, etc.), also referred to as gates
 events that must coexist to cause the top event are described using the
AND relationship
 alternate events that can individually cause the top event are described
using the OR relationship

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

 the occurrence of a top event may or may not lead to a serious or adverse
consequence
 the relative likelihood of a number of potential consequences will depend
on the conditions or subsequent events that follow
 potential consequences can be systematically identified using an event
tree

Basic Events

An event that cannot be developed any further.

 all basic events are generally assumed to be statistically independent

unless they are common cause failures (i.e. failures arising from a
common cause or an initiating event)
 basic events can be either
z primary fault events, i.e. subsystem failure due to a basic mode such as
a structural fault, failure to open or close, or to start or stop, or
z secondary fault events, i.e. subsystem failure due to excessive
operational or environmental stress resulting in the system element to
be out of tolerance

Advantages
 allow the use of reliable information on component failure and other basic
events to estimate the overall risk associated with new system designs for
which no historical data exists
 simple to understand and easy to implement
 qualitative descriptions of potential problems and combinations of events
causing specific problems of interest
 quantitative estimates of failure frequencies and likelihoods, and relative
importances of various failure sequences and contributing events
 lists of recommendations for reducing risks
 quantitative evaluations of recommendation effectiveness

Limitations
 difficult to conceive all possible scenarios leading to the top event
 construction of fault trees for large systems can be tedious
 correlations between basic events (e.g. failure of components belonging to
the same batch) are difficult to model and exact solutions to correlated
events do not exist
 subjective decisions regarding the level of detail and completeness are
often necessary

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Notation
Symbol Name Description
Primary Event Symbols
Circle Basic Event – a basic initiating fault requiring
no further development

Oval Conditioning Event – specific conditions or

restrictions that apply to any logic gate (used
with INHIBIT gate)
Diamond Undeveloped Event – an event that is not
developed further because it is of insufficient
consequence or because information is
unavailable
House External Event – an event which is normally
expected to occur (not a fault event)

Intermediate Event Symbols

Rectangle A fault event that occurs as a result of the
logical combination of other events

Gate Symbols
OR Gate The union operation of events, i.e. the output
event occurs if (at least) one or more of the
inputs occur
AND Gate The intersection operation of events, i.e. the
output event occurs if and only if all the inputs
occur
INHIBIT The output event occurs if the (single) input
Gate event occurs in the presence of an enabling
condition (i.e. Conditioning Event (oval) drawn
to the right of the gate)
Transfer Symbols
Triangle-in Indicates that the tree is developed further
someplace else (e.g. another page)

Triangle-out Indicates that this portion of the tree is a sub-

tree connected to the corresponding Triangle-In
(appears at the top of the tree)

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

General Procedure for Fault Tree Analysis

 from the U.S. Coast Guard Risk-based Decision-making Guidelines, Vol. 3
- Risk Assessment Tools Reference, Chapter 9 – Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
(http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/risk/E-Guidelines/RBDMGuide.htm)

Step 1. Define the system of interest.

Specify and clearly define the boundaries and initial conditions of
the system for which failure information is needed.

Step 2. Define the top event for the analysis.

Specify the problem of interest that the analysis will address
(e.g. a specific quality problem, shutdown, safety issue, etc.).

Step 3. Define the treetop structure.

Determine the events and conditions (i.e., intermediate events) that
most directly lead to the top event.

Step 4. Explore each branch in successive levels of detail.

Determine the events and conditions that most directly lead to each
intermediate event. Repeat the process at each successive level of
the tree until the fault tree model is complete.

Step 5. Solve the fault tree for the combinations of events contributing to
the top event.
Examine the fault tree model to identify all the possible
combinations of events and conditions that can cause the top event
of interest. A combination of events and conditions sufficient and
necessary to cause the top event is called a minimal cut set.

Step 6. Identify important dependent failure potentials and adjust the

model appropriately (qualitative common cause failure analysis).
Study the fault tree model and the list of minimal cut sets to identify
potentially important dependencies among events. Dependencies
are single occurrences that may cause multiple events or conditions
to occur at the same time.

Step 7. Perform quantitative analysis (if necessary).

Use statistical characterizations regarding the failure and repair of
specific events and conditions in the fault tree model to predict
future performance for the system.

Step 8. Use the results in decision making.

Use results of the analysis to identify the most significant
vulnerabilities in the system and to make effective recommendations
for reducing the risks associated with those vulnerabilities.

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Rules of Fault Tree Construction

 a fault tree should only be constructed once the functioning of the entire
system is fully understood
 objective is to identify all the component failures, or combinations thereof
that could lead to the top event (Steps 2 - 4 above)
 after McCormick (1981)

Rule 1. State the fault event as a fault, including the description and timing of
a fault condition at some particular time.
Include
(a) what the fault state of that system or component is,
(b) when that system or component is in the fault state.
Test the fault event by asking
(c) is it a fault?
(d) is the what-and-when portion included in the fault statement?

Rule 2. There are two basic types of fault statements, state-of-system and
state-of-component.
To continue the tree,
(a) if state-of-system fault statement, use Rule 3
(b) if state-of-component fault statement, use Rule 4

Rule 3. A state-of-system fault may use an AND, OR, or INHIBIT gate or no

gate at all.
To determine which gate to use, the faults must be then
(a) minimum necessary and sufficient fault events,
(b) immediate fault events.

Rule 4. A state-of-component fault always uses an OR gate.

To continue, look for the primary, secondary, and command failure
fault events. Then state those fault events.
(a) primary failure is failure of that component within the design
envelope or environment
(b) secondary failures are failures of that component due to
excessive environments exceeding the design environment
(c) command faults are inadvertent operation of the component
because of a failure of a control element

Rule 5. No gate-to-gate relationships.

Put an event statement between any two gates.

Rule 6. Expect no miracles.

Those things that would normally occur as the result of a fault will
occur, and only those things. Also, normal system operation may be
expected to occur when faults occur.

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Rule 7. In an OR gate, the input does not cause output.

If any input exists, the output exists. Fault events under the gate may
be a restatement of the output events.

Rule 8. An AND gate defines a causal relationship.

If the input events coexist, the output is produced.

Rule 9. An INHIBIT gate describes a causal relationship between one fault

and another, but the indicated condition must be present.
The fault is the direct and sole cause of the output when that
specified condition is present. Inhibit conditions may be faults or
situations, which is why AND and INHIBIT gates differ.

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Example: (McCormick, 1981) Construct a fault tree for the simple electric
motor circuit shown below.
Switch Fuse

Power
Motor
Supply

Wire

Solution:
Step 1. Define the system of interest.
Need to identify
z Intended Functions
z Physical Boundaries (to avoid overlooking key elements of a system at
interfaces and penalizing a system by associating other equipment
with the subject of the study)
z Analytical Boundaries (to limit the level of analysis resolution, to
explicitly exclude certain types of events and conditions, such as
sabotage, from the analysis)
z Initial Conditions, (including equipment that is assumed to be out of
service initially, which affect the combinations of additional events
necessary to produce a specific system problem)
For this particular problem we have,
Intended Function – the motor is used for some (unknown)
purpose
Physical Boundaries – power supply
Analytical Boundaries – include all contributors in the above diagram
Initial Conditions – switch closed, motor on

Step 2. Define the top event.

We are interested in the event that the motor fails to operate. Therefore,
the top event is defined as

Motor fails
to operate

Step 3. Construct the fault tree, starting from the top, i.e., define the treetop
structure. Identify the main contributing events, including all events and
scenarios that may cause the top event.

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Step 4. Explore each branch in successive levels of detail, following the rules
of fault tree construction.

Motor fails
to operate

Defect No current
in motor to motor

Switch Wire Fuse fails Power

open failure open supply
(open) failure

3 4

Fuse
Switch Switch failure under
Fuse failure
fails opened normal
due to overload
open erroneously conditions
(open)
Fuse fails
5
open

Overload
in circuit

Wire Power
failure failure
(shorted) (surge)

Fault Tree Construction

Gate 1. One primary failure event is the failure of the motor itself (for
example, due to a wiring failure within the motor or loss of lubrication
to the bearings). This event is a basic event because no details of the
motor are given, therefore, the event cannot be developed further. The
other possibility is the event that no current is supplied to the motor.

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Gate 2. The event “No current in motor” is the result of other events and
is therefore developed further. The lack of current to the motor can
result from a broken connection in any of the other four components in
the circuit, including the failure of the wire or power supply (basic
events), the switch being open, or failure of the fuse.

Gate 3. The open switch may be due to a basic failure of the switch, or the
event that the switch was opened erroneously. The erroneous opening
of the switch is due to human error, which could be developed further
into more basic events (i.e. operator is inexperienced, under stress,
etc.). However, due to insufficient information, the event is not
explored further. This purposely undeveloped event is therefore
denoted with the diamond symbol.

Gate 4. The fuse failure event may be caused by fuse failure under normal
conditions (primary failure) or due to overload from the circuit.

Gate 5. The secondary fuse failure can occur if the fuse does not open
every time an overload is present in the circuit (because all conditions
of an overload do not necessarily result in sufficient overcurrent to
open the fuse). This is why a conditional gate, denoted by the
hexagon, is used. The condition, i.e. “Fuse fails open” is placed in the
connecting oval, and the conditional gate is treated similarly to an
AND gate in subsequent tree analysis.

Gate 6. The overload in the circuit may be caused either by a short or a

power surge, both of which are primary (i.e. basic) events.

Considerations
 construction of a fault tree is subjective
 need to take into account
z Level of Detail – the number of basic events should be defined such
that the size of the tree is reasonable with respect to the scope of the
analysis
z Probability Assignment – need to stop development at the level
where probability or failure data is available
z Meaningfulness – the level of detail should be such that the basic and
undeveloped events correspond to the design aspects being analyzed

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Fault Tree Evaluation

 identify critical events and event combinations that lead to the top event
 calculate the probability of the top event based on the probabilities of the
basic and undeveloped events in the fault tree
 two types of analysis
z qualitative
z quantitative
 based on Boolean logic

Boolean Algebra
 fault trees describe the relationships between events using Boolean logic
 a fault tree can be translated into an equivalent set of Boolean equations

The OR Gate
Represents the union of events at the gate. For event Q with two input events
A and B attached to the OR gate, the probability is obtained as
P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) − P (A ∩ B ) (1)

or
P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) − P (A)P (B | A) (2)

If A and B are mutually exclusive events then P (A ∩ B ) = 0 and

P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) (3)

If A and B are independent events then P (B | A) = P (B ) and

P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) − P (A)P (B ) (4)

If event B is completely dependent on event A then P (B | A) = 1 and

P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) − P (A)(1) = P (B ) (5)

Therefore, the approximation of

P (Q ) = P (A) + P (B ) (6)

is always a conservative estimate for the probability of event Q (because

P (A ∩ B ) is small compared with P (A) + P (B ) for very low probability
events). Event Q will occur if any (at least) one of the input events to the OR
gate occur.

The AND Gate

Represents the intersection of events at the gate. For event Q with two input
events A and B attached to the AND gate, the probability is obtained as
P (Q ) = P (A)P (B | A) = P (B )P (A | B ) (7)

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

If A and B are independent events then P (B | A) = P (B ) and

P (A | B ) = P (A) therefore
P (Q ) = P (A)P (B ) (8)

If A and B are not independent, then Q may be significantly greater than

P (A)P (B ) . Event Q is caused only if every (all) input event attached to the
AND gate occur.

Rules of Boolean Algebra

Mathematical Notation Engineering Notation Designation
X ∩Y = Y ∩ X X ⋅Y = Y ⋅ X Commutative Law
X ∪Y = Y ∪ X X +Y = Y + X

X ∩ (Y ∩ Z ) = (X ∩ Y ) ∩ Z X ⋅ (Y ⋅ Z ) = (X ⋅Y ) ⋅ Z Associative Law
X (YZ ) = (XY )Z
X ∪ (Y ∪ Z ) = (X ∪ Y ) ∪ Z X + (Y + Z ) = (X +Y ) + Z

X ∩ (Y ∪ Z ) = (X ∩ Y ) ∪ (X ∩ Z ) X ⋅ (Y + Z ) = X ⋅Y + X ⋅ Z Distributive Law
X (Y + Z ) = XY + XZ
X ∪ (Y ∩ Z ) = (X ∪Y ) ∩ (X ∪ Z ) X + (Y ⋅ Z ) = (X +Y ) ⋅ (X + Z )

X ∩X = X X ⋅X = X Idempotent Law
X ∪X = X X +X = X

X ∩ (X ∪ Y ) = X X ⋅ (X + Y ) = X Law of Absorption
X ∪ (X ∩ Y ) = X X + (X ⋅Y ) = X

X ∩X = φ X ⋅X = φ Complementation
X ∪X =Ω= I X +X = Ω= I

X ∩Y = X ∪Y X ⋅Y = X + Y de Morgan’s Rule
X ∪Y = X ∩Y X + Y = X ⋅Y

φ∩X =φ φ⋅X = φ Operations with φ and Ω

φ∪X = X φ+X = X
Ω∩X = X Ω⋅X = X
Ω∪X = Ω Ω+X = Ω
φ =Ω φ =Ω
Ω=φ Ω=φ

X ∪ (X ∩ Y ) = X ∪ Y X + (X ⋅Y ) = X + Y Other relationships
X ∩ (X ∪ Y ) = X ∩ Y X ⋅ (X + Y ) = X ⋅Y

φ is the empty or null set which is equal to zero

Ω or I is the universal set which is equal to one

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Qualitative Analysis
 used for identifying
critical events
z
potential system weaknesses
z
z best ways to reduce the risk associated with the top event
 conducted using minimal cut sets

Minimal Cut Sets

The smallest combination of basic events which, if they occur,

will cause the top event to occur.

 can be seen as a specific scenario that leads to the top event

 cut sets are combinations (intersections) of component failures sufficient
for the top event
 the occurrence of all events in a minimal cut set is necessary for the
occurrence of the top event, i.e. if one of the failures in a cut set does not
occur, then the top event will not occur (by this combination)
 there are a finite number of minimal cut sets for each fault tree, which are
unique for the top event
 one-component minimal cut sets represent failures which will cause the
top event to occur
 the minimal cut sets for a fault tree are obtained by
z translating the tree to its equivalent Boolean equations
(assume that events are independent)
z using top-down or bottom-up substitution
z using the Distributive Law and Law of Absorption to remove
redundancies

Criticality
 the importance of each minimal cut set can be based on its relative
contribution to the total probability of the top event
 the minimal cut sets for a fault tree can be used to identify the most critical
basic events using the following criteria
z minimal cut sets that include a small number of events represent less
redundancy and so have higher criticality
z events that appear on a large number of minimal cut sets are more
important because they can contribute to the top event in several
scenarios
 must also consider the relative probabilities of each of the events
z the importance of each event can be based on the total probability of
the cut sets to which the basic event contributes (i.e. represents the
total probability of failure involving the event)

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

Example: Determine all the minimal cut sets for the small motor problem.

Solution:
Let T denote the top event
Let P denote primary events (circles)
Let G denote intermediate events (rectangles)
Let S denote undeveloped events (diamonds)
Let C denote conditioning events (ovals)
T
Therefore +
T = motor fails to operate
P1 = defect in motor G1
P1
P2 = wire failure (open)
P3 = power supply failure +

P4 = switch fails open

P5 = fuse failure under normal G2 P2 G3 P3
conditions (open) + +
P6 = wire failure (shorted)
P7 = power failure (surge) P4 S1 G4 P5
G1 = no current to motor
x C1
G2 = fuse fails open
G3 = switch open G5
G4 = fuse failure due to overload +
G5 = overload in circuit
S1 = switch opened erroneously P6 P7
C1 = fuse fails to open
Writing equations for each gate of the tree
T = P1 + G1 (9)
G1 = P2 + P3 + G2 + G3 (10)
G2 = P4 + S1 (11)
G3 = G4 + P5 (12)
G4 = C1 · G5 (13)
G5 = P6 + P7 (14)
Using the top-down approach we get by substitution
T = P1 + G1 (15)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + G2 + G3 (15.1)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + G3 (15.2)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + G4 + P5 (15.3)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + (C1 · G5) + P5 (15.4)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + P5 + C1 · (P6 + P7) (15.5)
= P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + P5 + (C1 · P6) + (C1 · P7) (15.6)

The top event, therefore, contains 6 single component minimum cut sets and
2 double component minimum cut sets.

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

Quantitative Analysis
 calculate the probability of occurrence of the top event, given the fault
tree and the probability of occurrence of the basic events
 common approaches include
zassume all basic events are independent
zassume the probabilities of basic events are small (rare-event
approximation)
 if each basic event on the fault tree occurs only once, then the tree
branches emanating from any given gate in the tree are independent
 the probability of the top event is given by the probability of the union of
the minimum cut sets
 results in a conservative estimate of the probability of failure

Common-Cause Failures

Multiple failures originating from a common cause that fails the system.

 the basic events may not always be independent

 failure events can be caused by a common environment or have factors in
common (e.g. an operator has miscalibrated all sensors)
 common causes often arise from factors such as manufacturer,
environment, energy sources, and humans
 the evaluation of probabilities will require conditional or joint
probabilities

Example: Calculate the probability of occurrence of the top event for the
simple motor example. Assume the probability of occurrence of each basic
event is equal to 0.01 and the probability of the event S1 “Switch opened
erroneously” is equal to 0.001. Also assume that the condition C1 “Fuse
fails open” has a probability of occurrence of 0.50.

Solution:
Using the same notation as before we are given
Event Description Probability
P1 Defect in motor 0.01
P2 Wire failure (open) 0.01
P3 Power supply failure 0.01
P4 Switch fails open 0.01
P5 Fuse failure under normal conditions (open) 0.01
P6 Wire failure (shorted) 0.01
P7 Power failure (surge) 0.01
S1 Switch opened erroneously 0.001
C1 Fuse fails open 0.50

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M. Pandey, University of Waterloo CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development

The probability of intermediate events can be evaluated using the fault tree.
The probability of the top event is given by the union of the minimum cut sets
determined before as

T = P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + S1 + P5 + (C1 · P6) + (C1 · P7) (16)

= 0.01 + 0.01 + 0.01 + 0.01 + 0.001 + 0.01 + (0.50)(0.01) + (0.50)(0.01) (16.1)
= 0.061 (16.2)

0.061

0.01 0.051

0.011 0.01 0.02 0.01

+ +

0.01 0.001 0.01 0.01

x 0.50

0.02

0.01 0.01

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CIVE 240 – Engineering and Sustainable Development M. Pandey, University of Waterloo

References
McCormick, N.J. 1981. Reliability and Risk Analysis: Methods and Nuclear Power
Applications. Academic Press, New York.
United States Coast Guard. 2004. Risk-based Decision-making (RBDM)
Guidelines (3rd Ed.), Vol. 3 – Risk Assessment Tools Reference, Chapter 9 –
Fault Tree Analysis.
(http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/risk/E-Guidelines/RBDMGuide.htm)
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 1981. Fault Tree
Handbook. NUREG-0492. Systems and Reliability Research Office of
Nuclear Regulatory Research, Washington, D.C.
(http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0492/sr0492.pdf)

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