Title :
Unreplicated experimental designs in reliability growth programs
Author :
Benski, Claudio ; Cabau, Emmanuel
Author_Institution :
Schneider Electr., Grenoble, France
fDate :
6/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Reliability-growth programs are usually implemented through repairs and modifications aimed at lengthening the system times-between-failures. The many factors that affect system performance suggest that a rational alternative to the common tweaking approach to reliability growth is experimental design techniques. However, economic and time constraints generally impose unreplicated experiments where the response is measured by the times between system failures. We show that statistical analysis of these experiments is more difficult because of this condition. Fortunately, several techniques to detect statistically significant effects in unreplicated experiments are available and can be used to identify which factors and interactions have the strongest influence in lengthening the system up-time. These techniques use a variety of principles and, expectedly, perform somewhat differently under various conditions. We present the results of the most extensive Monte Carlo benchmark ever undertaken to test the performance of these techniques. A new figure of merit is introduced, allowing a 1-quantity summary of the statistical behavior of the tested techniques. A numerical example illustrates the problem and its solution
Keywords :
Monte Carlo methods; design of experiments; failure analysis; reliability; reliability theory; Monte Carlo power analysis; economic constraints; experimental design techniques; figure of merit; modifications; performance testing; reliability growth programs; repairs; statistical behavior; system times-between-failures; time constraints; unreplicated experimental designs; Benchmark testing; Design for experiments; Maintenance; Monte Carlo methods; Power generation economics; Power system reliability; Robustness; Statistical analysis; System performance; Time measurement;
Journal_Title :
Reliability, IEEE Transactions on