Citation

Billinton R, Hossain KL. Reliab. Eng. 1983; 5(4): 223-237.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0143-8174(83)90043-4

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The usual emphasis in quantitative reliability evaluation is on the development of a system model and the subsequent solution of the model to produce appropriate system indices. In many applications, certain reliability data may be absent or uncertain, in which case sensitivity studies may be done to examine the variation in the predicted indices due to the input parameters. It may be possible to replace the unchanging portion by a reduced model which retains the essential elements in their desired form but eliminates much of the system detail. This reduced model can be designated as a reliability equivalent. This paper introduces the concept of reliability equivalents by application to some basic system configurations.