Reliability of systems with various functions

The technical system considered is supposed to fulfil various functions. For each of these functions a corresponding subsystem is defined in terms of the system components. Generally different subsystems may have common components. Therefore these subsystems are statistically dependent even if the components are independent. Often one is interested in the probability that certain functions are fulfilled whereas the remaining functions fail. The method presented here allows a conservative approximation of this probability in a straightforward way. (author)