Reliability assessment methods allow the evaluation of the reliability of systems and provide important information on how to improve a system‟s life to reduce risk and hazards. With the advancement in technology, the existing methods were extended and new methods were adopted. The advancement from mechanical to numerical and analog to digital system in many applications, and deregulation of energy sector brought the need to further modify the reliability analysis methods. The scope of this research is to demonstrate the advancement of the Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology (DFM) to reliability modeling of Smart Electrical Transmission System. The reason behind this is the successful operation of electric power under a deregulated electricity market depends on transmission system reliability management. Besides this, analog electro-mechanical systems in existing power system are aging and becoming obsolete. This thesis also illustrates how the electrical transmission system can be renovated into smart electrical transmission system and evaluates the reliability measures. / UOIT

The use of communication networks in digital control systems introduces stability and reliability concerns. Standard reliability and safety assessment methods need further modification to accommodate the issue in the reliability assessment of networked control systems. In this thesis, it is demonstrated that the Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology (DFM) can be extended to model networked control systems. The modelling of the communication network influence on the performance of the control system is presented. The areas that can affect the reliability of the control system are identified using the methodology. The thesis also presents the application of the DFM to a nuclear-based thermochemical water splitting process for hydrogen production, the Copper-Chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle. The architecture of a networked control system and configuration of instrumentation and control systems for the hydrogen production plant are proposed in the thesis. / UOIT