This example has 2 pumps that are connected by pipeline with a buffer in the middle:

pump 1 → buffer → pump 2.

The details are:

• the model has only 2 items, pump 1 and pump 2, they are mutually independent and both have:
  • maximum capacity 17 (ton/day)
  • exponential lifetime, with scale 0.001, that is MTTF = 8.766 (hour), 1/1000 of a year
  • exponential downtime, with MTTR = 8.766 (hour)
• the pipeline is modelled as a single edge, with infinite capacity and no downtime
• the buffer size corresponds to 1 period of average downtime at full production capacity, it equals 1 * 17 * 8.766 = 149 (ton/day hour)

The long-term average reliability of this simple network has a known exact solution, it's 3/8, see Enginarlar_Li_Meerkov_buffer_2002.pdf.

The steps to run the ARTIS simulation of this network are:

• in your web browser:
  • visit fifty-fifty.html
• in the ARTIS user interface:
  • select the whole diagram (Ctrl + A)
  • open the run form (Ctrl + R)
  • hit OK
  • hit Submit, and wait until the results download is ready
• in your file browser:
  • find results.zip, in your default download location
  • extract it
  • open results.html