Citation

Martin P. Reliab. Eng. 1982; 3(1): 23-45.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1982, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0143-8174(82)90020-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that the synthesis of the reliability of a series mechanical system from generic component failure data can present some difficulty as the product rule can provide a pessimistic prediction of the reliability of a mechanical system. In this paper this difficulty is further examined. The effects on synthesised system reliability values of a number of different assumptions relating to component failure and component failure data analysis are examined theoretically.

It is a characteristic feature of many types of mechanical system that the failure of one component can result in the consequential failure of other components in the system. A given component could thus fail as a consequence of the failure of another component in the system or it could fail in its own right, independently of all other components in the system. A given set of generic component failure data could include failures of both types.

The theoretical implications of different failure mechanism assumptions are considered and their effects on the predicted values of system reliability are examined.

The relevance of the theoretical analysis is demonstrated by briefly considering a number of specific examples of the different types of physical failure mechanism involved and these are considered in relation to a number of mechanical system types.