Development of possibility distributions for fatigue lifetime data analysis

When there is limited objective reliability data, a new method of developing the possibility distribution by subjective assignment strategy is put forward, which makes use of the concept of interval-valued possibilistic mean value of a L-R fuzzy number and is then illustrated by the lifetime data from flexural fatigue reliability modeling and data analysis. An application of four groups´ gear-tooth flexural fatigue lifetime data of the 42CrMo steel specimens under various stress levels and sample sizes is presented to illustrate the inferring procedure of possibility distributions. The verification results of 6 and 8 samples between actual lifetime distributions and experimental ones, in comparison with the function termed mid-rank and three-parameter Weibull (3-PWD), show that the proposed approach is available and valid.