Citation

Ichikawa M. Reliab. Eng. 1984; 8(1): 57-62.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0143-8174(84)90035-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A formula for upper bound of probability of failure is proposed for the case in which the failure condition is expressed in the general form of H (x1, x2,..., xn)≤ 0 where x1, x2,..., xn are relevant variables. This is an extension of the previous formula for the case in which the failure condition is expressed as H (R,S)≤0 where R and S are the strength and stress, respectively. This formula can be a useful tool for reliability evaluation when only the means and the variances of relevant variables are known and their distribution forms are unknown or unclear. This paper also reveals a relation between upper bound of probability of failure and the so-called safety index. This relation gives a quantitative base to the safety index.