Quantification of Operational Readiness of Vehicles Utilized in Actions
Purpose: An attempt to quantify the impact of the vehicles ageing on their: readiness, reliability and availability. Design and Methods: Based on literature data and normative acts, the authors applied the models of preparedness and indicators used in the practice of the control over vehicles’ exploitation within the emergency transportation systems. These accounts for the process of vehicles exploitation within the systems related to fighting natural disasters, military catastrophes, etc. Not only the need, but also the real possibility of considering the impact of vehicles’ ageing on their readiness, reliability and availability was illustrated by empirical characteristics of the vehicles “damageability”. These characteristics were created based on exploitation tests performed in emergency transport system, in which waiting time for tasks is a random variable. Having analysed the data from the operational practice about “damageability” of a truck used with varying intensity, the authors found that the data on the mileage between particular failures is characterized by a very large range of scatter. It turned out that this condition is determined by two factors, namely: different age of cars and various intensity of their use during their operation. Collected in the course of operational exploitation practice data about the mileage of vehicles between their failures was assigned to the particular ranges of their intensity. This allowed for the development of the characteristics of “damageability” of the examined vehicles for each band intensity. Results: In this case, the “damageability” parameter was expressed as the expected vehicle mileage between failures in a function of the mileage from the start of its exploitation. We presented several characteristics of “damageability” for operating vehicles with different times of awaiting for action. Quantification of operational readiness of the vehicles is the result of processed information from monitoring of their use and maintenance processes, accounting for their specificity and maintenance of their road worthiness. The collection of information is the result of applied models and indicators of readiness and reliability. The authors presented examples of utilization of the index quantifying operational readiness of the vehicles with reference to their ageing expressed with wear of the resource. Conclusions: Effective evaluation of the operational readiness of vehicles during the exploitation management is feasible by means of appropriately organized and implemented information systems.