Time-varying failure rates in the availability and reliability analysis of repairable systems

Author

Hassett, Thomas F. ; Dietrich, Duane L. ; Szidarovszky, Ferenc

Author_Institution

Dept. of Syst. & Ind. Eng., Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ, USA

Volume

44

Issue

1

fYear

1995

fDate

3/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

155

Lastpage

160

Abstract

This paper combines time varying failure rates and Markov chain analysis to obtain a hybrid reliability and availability analysis. However, combining these techniques can, depending on the size of the system, result in solutions of the Markov chain differential matrix equations that are intractable. This paper identifies solutions that are tractable, These form the analytical baseline for the reliability and availability analysis of systems with time varying failure rates. Tractable solutions were found for the 1-component 2-state and the 2-component 4-state configurations. Time varying failure rates were characterized by a general polynomial expression. Constant, linear, and Weibull failure rate functions are special cases of this polynomial. The general polynomial failure rate provides flexibility in modeling the time varying failure rates that occur in practice

Keywords

Markov processes; Weibull distribution; difference equations; failure analysis; maintenance engineering; matrix algebra; polynomials; reliability theory; Markov chain analysis; Markov chain differential matrix equations; Weibull failure rate functions; analytical baseline; availability; constant failure rate functions; general polynomial expression; linear failure rate functions; reliability; repairable systems; time-varying failure rates; Availability; Books; Chromium; Differential equations; Failure analysis; Laboratories; Polynomials; Reliability; Testing; Time varying systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Reliability, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9529

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/24.376543

Filename

376543