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General Conditions for Comparing the Reliability Functions of Systems of Components Sharing a Common Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

Steven T. Garren*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Donald St. P. Richards*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
*
Postal address: 104 Halsey Hall, Division of Statistics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
∗∗Postal address: 107 Halsey Hall, Division of Statistics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.

Abstract

We present general criteria for analyzing the crossing characteristics of RI, the reliability function of an m-of-n system of components operating within a laboratory (or test-bench) environment, and RO, the reliability function of the same system now operating subject to an external environment. Inside the laboratory the components' lifetimes may be dependently distributed, and the external environment is modeled using the general approach of Lindley and Singpurwalla (1986). Our techniques, which utilize results basic to the theory of order statistics, apply to broad classes of external environment models.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1998 

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