Reliability Evaluation by a Dependent Competing Failure Model Including a Time-Varying Rate for Sudden Degradation Increments

In this study, an effective dependent competing failure model is proposed for systems suffering from shocks. Under worse system degradation, shocks with the same magnitudes can bring larger sudden degradation increments. However, this relationship was ignored in most existing research. To address this problem, in the proposed failure model, a time-dependent rate is included for the sudden degradation increments by shocks. This time-varying rate is applied for the consideration that system degradation is closely related to operation time. Two dependent competing failure processes, i.e., soft failure and hard failure, are involved in the dependent competing failure model. The distribution of the total sudden degradation increments is then deduced, and its accuracy is verified by Monte Carlo simulation. The developed reliability model is illustrated by the reliability analysis of a microelectromechanical system. The sensitivity analyses of important parameters are also performed. The analysis results show that the proposed time-varying model effectively considers the impact of system degradation on sudden degradation increments, and by using this model, the change of sudden degradation increments can be well reflected under different system performances. These advantages make the reliability model more practical and help achieve more effective maintenance policies.