A Pump FMEA Approach to Improve Reliability Centered Maintenance Procedure: The Case of Centrifugal Pumps in Onshore Industry A. AZADEH *, V. EBRAHIMIPOUR, P. BAVAR Department of Industrial Engineering and Center of Excellence for Intelligent Experimental Mechanics, Faculty of Engineering University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11365- 4563, Tel: +9821 88021067. Tehran, Iran *Corresponding Author aazadeh@ut.ac.ir , vebrahimi@ut.ac.ir , pbavar@ut.ac.ir Abstract: - In the reliability centered maintenance (RCM) methodology, the reliability estimates of the system are used to provide a cost-effective & satisfactory maintenance schedule. In this paper, a new framework for improvement of the RCM procedure based on the failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is developed. In order to achieve the objective, first based on the OREDA handbook classification the critical failure modes of centrifugal pumps & causes of these failures are identified. Then through the FMEA, the interactive impacts of these failure causes on both hydraulic & mechanical operating parameters of the centrifugal pumps (e.g. flow rate, discharge pressure, vibration) are indicated in linguistic variables. Next, based on the obtained failure information, the linguistic rules for failure diagnosis are extracted, and moreover based on the failure analysis the maintenance intervals are determined. The ability of the proposed approach to identify and classify faults, which result in correct and timely diagnosis, will increase the reliability of the system by maximizing the equipment availability, and consequently the system performance is improved. Keywords: - failure mode, FMEA, centrifugal pump, operating parameter, RCM 1- Introduction In order to reduce total production costs and increase the reliability of the equipments, there has been a great concentration on maintenance policies in recent years, since maintenance costs are major costs within the organizations [1]. Maintenance defines the set of activities performed on an item to retain it in or to restore it to a specific state. [2]. Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is one of the analytical methodologies, which is oriented to the development of component reliability to identify preventive maintenance (PM) requirements of complex systems. In many industries such as aviation, steel plant & ships, RCM is accepted as the most frequent and effective technique for maintenance [3,4]. The goal of RCM is minimization of costs and down time with regard to elimination of failures. RCM consists of two tasks; the first one is to analyze failure modes based on the effects of failures on the performance of the system. And, the second one is evaluation of the impact of maintenance schedules on the reliability of the system. In order to achieve these objectives, first all failure modes are identified and categorized through a Proceedings of the 6th WSEAS International Conference on FLUID MECHANICS (FLUIDS'09) ISSN: 1790-5095 38 ISBN: 978-960-474-40-6