
Financial information at 30 September 2020
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KB3 regroups all the software performing dependability studies.
The KB3 workbench that EDF has been developing since the 90s allows automation of dependability studies by capitalizing on the knowledge acquired on systems through knowledge bases written in an object-oriented modelling language called FIGARO.
From the graphic input of a model, made possible by the definition of a knowledge base dedicated to the problem to be treated, the tool KB3 automatically builds reliability models. These models can be static, such as fault-trees, or dynamic, exploitable by means of markov methods or by Monte-Carlo simulation.
The KB3 workbench also allows the reliability analysts to build graphically all their usual models:
Models built with KB3 can be processed in various ways with several calculation tools, developed either by EDF (FIGSEQ, YAMS, FIGMAT-SF for dynamic models), or by other companies (RISKSPECTRUM, GRIF-Tree for the fault-trees generated by KB3). These tools allow making calculations of reliability, availability, productivity, costs... They also give precious qualitative indications to improve the performances of the studied systems: minimal cut sets or dominating sequences, importance factors...
KB3 offers a very user-friendly graphic interface, with generic functions that are useful in all applications: levels of detail, display modes in colour, interactive simulation, optimized management of variants of models, copy and paste of graphs and data towards Microsoft Office tools.
Among the possible applications of KB3 we can quote :
The KB3 installer containing the demonstration version and several examples of the knowledge bases and the system models can be downloaded here.
The only limitation of the KB3 demonstration version is that the size of studies that can be created, loaded etc. is limited to 80 objects.
The database "Pedagogical v2-x-y kit" contains the following knowledge bases (in French and English), with several examples of systems models associated to each knowledge base:
Also find databases containing varied examples of BDMP for safety and security on the site.
Visual Figaro has been developed as a plugin for the Jedit text editor (in Java, Open Source). This environment allows you to easily modify the example knowledge bases, even develop your own.
Visual Figaro itself, as well as the examples of instructional knowledge bases, can be downloaded on Sourceforge.net These instructional bases are those found already present in the "Pedagogical v2-x-y kit". They allow:
MINIPLANT 1, 2 and 3, in growing complexity, are tutorials that lead to a knowledge base that allows the resolution of the 4 variants of the MINIPLANT test case: computation of reliability, availability, and system equivalent availability.
These knowledge bases are a starting point to be enriched by Visual Figaro users, why not you?
The dependability study of complex systems with reconfiguration capacities, standby redundancy (normal and backup functioning), or other dependency types between components require the use of behavioural (or dynamic) models, in which we explicitly model the random process that makes the system evolve from state to state, until it reaches an undesirable state.
BDMP ("Boolean logic Driven Markov Processes"), created in 2002, are a new graphic formalism that allows these models to be easily defined. They also have mathematical properties that facilitate probabilistic calculations.
The graphic representation of BDMP is very close to that used in fault trees, which makes them easy to use. The following document contains various examples that demonstrate BDMP modelling power and ease of use.
A training session is available for the use of the KB3, BDMP, FIGSEQ and YAMS tools.
Check the ITech training catalogue (in French)