Fault tree
The lamp will not light
OR
The bulb has failed
No power reaches the lamp
OR
Switch is off
Unplugged
Fuse has blown
Power cut
Make a fault tree
Free · no sign-up
What a fault tree is
“Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a type of failure analysis in which an undesired state of a system is examined.”
Types of problem tree
When to use a fault tree
Safety checks
Engineers use fault trees to find every way a machine or system could fail.
Cause and effect
Work down from what went wrong to each thing that could have caused it.
Decorating
Try it on a lamp that will not light: check the bulb, then the switch, the plug and the fuse.
How to make a fault tree
- 1What went wrongThe lamp will not light
- 2Possible causesThe lamp will not lightOR
- 3Down to basicsThe lamp will not lightORThe bulb has failedNo power reaches the lampORSwitch is offUnpluggedFuse has blownPower cut
Helpful resources
Questions
- Where is it used?
This analysis method is mainly used in safety engineering and reliability engineering to understand how systems can fail, to identify the best ways to reduce risk and to determine (or get a feeling for) event rates of a safety accident or a particular system level (functional) failure.
From Wikipedia — Fault tree analysis — CC BY-SA 4.0- Do I need an account?
- No. Press the button and start. It saves in this browser; sign in only if you want it on your other devices too.
- Can I print it?
- Yes. Print it from the board's settings, or pick “Save as PDF” in the print window to keep a file.