3. Malfunctions. Maintenance

Pumps are highly reliable, but also widely available. This is why, despite their low failure rate, they play a significant, if not principal, role in the downtime of major industrial plants. For example, pumps account for 1.7% of downtime in fossil-fired power plants in the USA, representing 10% of total downtime [EPRI].

Pump failure can have a major impact on the environment and human safety. They convey corrosive, flammable or chemically dangerous products in highly condensed form, or simply fluids at very high pressure and temperature. Finally, they are used in safety devices, where their reliability is essential.

In what follows, we will use two very distinct concepts:

• the cause of the stoppage will be, for example, the deterioration of a bearing which necessitated the stoppage;...