Handbook of Reliability Engineering, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2003

An effective reliability programme is an essential component of every product's design, testing and efficient production. From the failure analysis of a microelectronic device to software fault tolerance and from the accelerated life testing of mechanical components to hardware verification, a common underlying philosophy of reliability applies. Defining both fundamental and applied work across the entire systems reliability arena, this state-of-the-art reference presents methodologies for quality, maintainability and dependability. Featuring: Contributions from 60 leading reliability experts in academia and industry giving comprehensive and authoritative coverage. A distinguished international Editorial Board ensuring clarity and precision throughout. Extensive references to the theoretical foundations, recent research and future directions described in each chapter. Comprehensive subject index providing maximum utility to the reader. Applications and examples across all branches of engineering including IT, power, automotive and aerospace sectors. The handbook's cross-disciplinary scope will ensure that it serves as an indispensable tool for researchers in industrial, electrical, electronics, computer, civil, mechanical and systems engineering. It will also aid professional engineers to find creative reliability solutions and management to evaluate systems reliability and to improve processes. For student research projects it will be the ideal starting point whether addressing basic questions in communications and electronics or learning advanced applications in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), manufacturing and high-assurance engineering systems.

PART I. System Reliability and Optimization 1 Multi-state k-out-of-n Systems Ming J. Zuo, Jinsheng Huang and Way Kuo 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Relevant Concepts in Binary Reliability Theory 1.3 Binary k-out-of-n Models 1.3.1 The k-out-of-n:G System with Independently and Identically Distributed Components 1.3.2 Reliability Evaluation Using Minimal Path or Cut Sets 1.3.3 Recursive Algorithms 1.3.4 Equivalence Between a k-out-of-n:G System and an (n - k + 1)-out-of-n:F System 1.3.5 The Dual Relationship Between the k-out-of-n G and F Systems 1.4 Relevant Concepts in Multi-state Reliability Theory 1.5 A Simple Multi-state k-out-of-n: G Model 1.6 A Generalized Multi-state k-out-of-n:G System Model 1.7 Properties of Generalized Multi-state k-out-of-n:G Systems 1.8 Equivalence and Duality in Generalized Multi-state k-out-of-n Systems 2 Reliability of Systems with Multiple Failure Modes Hoang Pham 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Series System 2.3 The Parallel System 2.3.1 Cost Optimization 2.4 The Parallel-Series System 2.4.1 The Profit Maximization Problem 2.4.2 Optimization Problem 2.5 The Series-Parallel System 2.5.1 Maximizing the Average System Profit 2.5.2 Consideration of Type I Design Error 2.6 The k-out-of-n Systems 2.6.1 Minimizing the Average System Cost 2.7 Fault-tolerant Systems 2.7.1 Reliability Evaluation 2.7.2 Redundancy Optimization 2.8 Weighted Systems with Three Failure Modes 3 Reliabilities of Consecutive-k Systems Jen-Chun Chang and Frank K. Hwang 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Background 3.1.2 Notation 3.2 Computation of Reliability 3.2.1 The Recursive Equation Approach 3.2.2 The Markov Chain Approach 3.2.3 Asymptotic Analysis 3.3 Invariant Consecutive Systems 3.3.1 Invariant Consecutive-2Systems 3.3.2 Invariant Consecutive-k Systems 3.3.3 Invariant Consecutive-kG System. 3.4 Component Importance and the Component Replacement Problem 3.4.1 The Birnbaum Importance 3.4.2 Partial Birnbaum Importance 3.4.3 The Optimal Component Replacement 3.5 The Weighted-consecutive-k-out-of-n System. 3.5.1 The Linear Weighted-consecutive-k-out-of-n System 3.5.2 The Circular Weighted-consecutive-k-out-of-n System 3.6 Window Systems 3.6.1 The f -within-consecutive-k-out-of-n System 3.6.2 The 2-within-consecutive-k-out-of-n System 3.6.3 The b-fold-window System 3.7 Network Systems 3.7.1 The Linear Consecutive-2 Network System 3.7.2 The Linear Consecutive-k Network System 3.7.3 The Linear Consecutive-k Flow Network System 3.8 Conclusion 4 Multi-state System Reliability Analysis and Optimization G. Levitin and A. Lisnianski 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Notation 4.2 Multi-state System Reliability Measures 4.3 Multi-state System Reliability Indices Evaluation Based on the Universal Generating Function 4.4 Determination of u-function of Complex Multi-state System Using Composition Operators 4.5 Importance and Sensitivity Analysis of Multi-state Systems 4.6 Multi-state System Structure Optimization Problems 4.6.1 Optimization Technique 4.6.1.1 Genetic Algorithm 4.6.1.2 Solution Representation and Decoding Procedure 4.6.2 Structure Optimization of Series-Parallel System with Capacity-based Performance Measure 4.6.2.1 Problem Formulation 4.6.2.2 Solution Quality Evaluation 4.6.3 Structure Optimization of Multi-state System with Two Failure Modes 4.6.3.1 Problem Formulation 4.6.3.2 Solution Quality Evaluation 4.6.4 Structure Optimization for Multi-state System with Fixed Resource Requirements and Unreliable Sources 4.6.4.1 Problem Formulation 4.6.4.2 Solution Quality Evaluation 4.6.4.3 The Output Performance Distribution of a System Containing Identical Elements in the Main Producing Subsystem 4.6.4.4 The Output Performance Distribution of a System Containing Different Elements in the Main Producing Subsystem<