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Self-tuning of fuzzy belief rule bases for engineering system safety analysis

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Abstract

A framework for modelling the safety of an engineering system using a fuzzy rule-based evidential reasoning (FURBER) approach has been recently proposed, where a fuzzy rule-base designed on the basis of a belief structure (called a belief rule base) forms a basis in the inference mechanism of FURBER. However, it is difficult to accurately determine the parameters of a fuzzy belief rule base (FBRB) entirely subjectively, in particular for complex systems. As such, there is a need to develop a supporting mechanism that can be used to train in a locally optimal way a FBRB initially built using expert knowledge. In this paper, the methods for self-tuning a FBRB for engineering system safety analysis are investigated on the basis of a previous study. The method consists of a number of single and multiple objective nonlinear optimization models. The above framework is applied to model the system safety of a marine engineering system and the case study is used to demonstrate how the methods can be implemented.

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Correspondence to Jun Liu.

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Liu, J., Yang, JB., Ruan, D. et al. Self-tuning of fuzzy belief rule bases for engineering system safety analysis. Ann Oper Res 163, 143–168 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-008-0327-0

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