Reliability of a Series Chain for Time Dependent Stress - Strength Models of Weibull Distribution

In this work, we study consider the problem of determining the reliability of a series chain consisting of k identical links. The stress acting on the chain is deterministic. We consider the case of repeated applications of stresses, i.e., cycles of stresses. We also consider the change of the distribution of strengths of the links with time, i.e., during different cycles of stresses. We find an expression of the reliability function after m cycles of stresses. The strengths of the links of the chain could be random-independent, random-fixed or deterministic. We introduce a two-sided confidence interval for the reliability. As an application, the case of weibull distribution is studied. Finally the system is applied to simulated data and real data for numerical illustration. [A. I. Shawky and F. H. Al-Gashgari. Reliability of a Series Chain for Time Dependent Stress - Strength Models of Weibull Distribution. Life Sci J 2012; 9(3): 2319-2324]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.334