On allocating one active redundancy to coherent systems with dependent and heterogeneous components' lifetimes

This article studies coherent systems of heterogenous and statistically dependent components' lifetimes. We present a sufficient and necessary condition for a stochastically longer system lifetime resulted by allocating a single active redundancy. For exchangeable components' lifetimes, allocating the redundancy to the component with more minimal path sets is proved to produce a more reliable system, and for systems with stochastic arrangement increasing components' lifetimes and symmetric structure with respect to two components, allocating the redundancy to the weaker one brings forth a larger reliability. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the theoretical results as well. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 335–345, 2016     

灰色可靠性设计模型及其在机械工程应用

将灰色系统推广到概率统计理论 ,阐述了灰色概率公理化体系 ,研究了灰色概率密度函数与灰色可靠度计算方法 ,建立了应力—强度干涉灰色可靠度计算模型及其白化求解方法 ,编制了matlab5 3语言程序。给出了工程应用实例 ,并对结果与常规可靠性设计进行了对比分析 ,显示了本模型的正确性与可行性。它可用于设计参数变动对可靠度的灵敏度分析及其稳健性可靠性设计 ,有效地控制设计参数     

Reliability sensitivity analysis based on multi-hyperplane combination method

For a nonlinear limit state function, the first-order reliability method (FORM) may cause large errors in the computation of not only the reliability index or failure probability but also the reliability sensitivity. In order to obtain more the accurate results of the reliability sensitivity analysis, a number of hyperplanes are built near the design point by first-order Tayler series expansion, which replace the known nonlinear limit state hypersurface, and an equivalent computational method is utilized to construct an equivalent hyperplane of the obtained hyperplanes. And the reliability sensitivities can be estimated more accurately by the derived equations based on the equivalent hyperplane. An example shows that the method is effective and feasible.     

Two‐stage component test plans for testing the reliability of a series system

A system reliability is often evaluated by individual tests of components that constitute the system. These component test plans have advantages over complete system based tests in terms of time and cost. In this paper, we consider the series system with n components, where the lifetime of the i‐th component follows exponential distribution with parameter λ_i. Assuming test costs for the components are different, we develop an efficient algorithm to design a two‐stage component test plan that satisfies the usual probability requirements on the system reliability and in addition minimizes the maximum expected cost. For the case of prior information in the form of upper bounds on λ_i's, we use the genetic algorithm to solve the associated optimization problems which are otherwise difficult to solve using mathematical programming techniques. The two‐stage component test plans are cost effective compared to single‐stage plans developed by Rajgopal and Mazumdar. We demonstrate through several numerical examples that our approach has the potential to reduce the overall testing costs significantly. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 49: 95–116, 2002; DOI 10.1002/nav.1051     

系统可靠寿命的不确定性分析及其高效方法

为了分析元器件失效率的不确定性对系统可靠性的影响,借鉴Borgonovo的矩独立灵敏度分析思想,在充分考虑了系统可靠寿命完整不确定性信息的情况下,提出了基于系统可靠寿命的矩独立重要性测度,用来分析不确定性条件下系统元器件失效率对其可靠寿命的平均影响。但由于系统可靠寿命函数是系统可靠度函数的反函数,一般无法解析表达而以隐函数的形式存在,致使该矩独立重要性测度难以高效准确求解。为了解决这一问题,文章提出了一种新的Kriging自适应代理模型的高效算法,该算法以Kriging代理模型预测值的变异系数作为自适应学习函数,通过自主增加新的试验样本,增强代理模型的预测准确性。阀门控制系统和民用飞机电液舵机系统两个算例分析表明,在保证计算精度的情况下,通过变异系数自适应学习函数,仅需添加少量系统可靠寿命试验样本,就能够构建用来充分近似系统可靠寿命函数的Kriging代理模型,解决了重要性测度的高效求解问题,从而验证了所提方法的合理性和算法的高效性。     

屏蔽数据在新型截尾样本下系统的可靠性分析

当系统含有屏蔽数据时,在具有随机移走逐步增加型截尾模型下,讨论了部件寿命服从双参数指数分布的串联系统可靠性估计问题。设随机移走系统数服从二项分布,利用极大似然方法,Bayes理论及方法,推导出双参数指数部件参数、系统可靠性函数、失效率函数及移走概率的极大似然估计和Bayes估计。并利用Monte Carlo方法对两种估计结果进行了比较,表明Bayes估计较极大似然估计效果更优。     

Model parameter estimation and residual life prediction for a partially observable failing system

We consider a partially observable degrading system subject to condition monitoring and random failure. The system's condition is categorized into one of three states: a healthy state, a warning state, and a failure state. Only the failure state is observable. While the system is operational, vector data that is stochastically related to the system state is obtained through condition monitoring at regular sampling epochs. The state process evolution follows a hidden semi‐Markov model (HSMM) and Erlang distribution is used for modeling the system's sojourn time in each of its operational states. The Expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm is applied to estimate the state and observation parameters of the HSMM. Explicit formulas for several important quantities for the system residual life estimation such as the conditional reliability function and the mean residual life are derived in terms of the posterior probability that the system is in the warning state. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the estimation procedure and failure prediction method. A comparison results with hidden Markov modeling are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 190–205, 2015     

考虑目标定位误差的点目标毁伤概率求解

根据射击毁伤理论和概率统计学,在现有点目标毁伤概率求解方法基础之上提出考虑目标定位误差的解析法和仿真法.计算结果表明2种方法均准确可行.通过对比分析得出不同弹药量、不同目标特性条件下,定位误差对毁伤概率的影响程度.运用解析法得出点目标的单发命中概率服从χ2分布,通过大量仿真得出目标定位误差可忽略的条件为WmaxRCEP/ω.     

加权随机模拟的时变可靠性分析方法

针对结构时变可靠性的随机模拟分析方法计算代价大的问题,在极值方法的基础上提出基于加权随机模拟的时变可靠性分析策略。时变可靠性分析需要计算在不同时间处的失效概率,通常需要进行多次可靠性分析,计算代价巨大。所提方法通过对常规静态可靠性的随机模拟方法进行改进拓展,运用加权策略分别发展了加权蒙特卡洛法和加权重要抽样法,使之能够高效分析计算时变可靠性问题。所提方法仅需一次常规可靠性分析模拟,即可得到时变失效概率函数估计。采用管状悬臂梁和十杆桁架两个算例进行验证。结果表明,基于加权思想的分析方法在能确保精确度的前提下能够大幅度减小计算量,提高计算效率。     

On a class of multiple failure mode systems

The primary objective of this work is to introduce and perform a detailed study of a class of multistate reliability structures in which no ordering in the levels of components' performances is necessary. In particular, the present paper develops the basic theory (exact reliability formulae, reliability bounds, asymptotic results) that will make it feasible to investigate systems whose components are allowed to experience m ≥ 2 kinds of failure (failure modes), and their breakdown is described by different families of cut sets in each mode. For illustration purposes, two classical (binary) systems are extended to analogous multiple failure mode structures, and their reliability performance (bounds and asymptotic behavior) is investigated by numerical experimentation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 167–185, 2002; DOI 10.1002/nav.10007     

基于高斯和粒子滤波的AUV水下地形辅助导航方法

针对自主式水下无人航行器(AUV)长时间潜航时的精确导航定位需求,以多波束测深系统为水下地形测量设备,提出一种基于贝叶斯估计的AUV水下地形匹配导航模型。针对贝叶斯滤波后验概率密度函数的求解问题,用高斯混合密度函数近似状态的后验概率密度函数,提出了基于高斯和粒子滤波的水下地形匹配导航方法。基于多波束测深数据的回放式仿真试验表明,提出的方法可以有效近似地形匹配的贝叶斯滤波模型,具有良好的实用性。     

Properties of an approximate hazard transform

The calculation of the exact reliability of complex systems is a difficult and tedious task. Consequently simple approximating techniques have great practical value. The hazard transform of a system is an invertible transformation of its reliability function which is convenient and useful in both applied and theoretical reliability work. A simple calculus for finding an approximate hazard transform for systems formed by series and parallel combinations of components is extended so that it can be used for any coherent system. The extended calculus is shown to lead to conservative approximations. A first order version of the extended calculus is also discussed. This method of approximation is even more simple to use, but is not always conservative. Examples of its application indicate that it is capable of giving quite accurate results.     

Sensitivity Test and Data Analysis for Storage Reliability Assessment of Explosive Initiator

The explosive initiator is one kind of sensitivity products with long life and high reliability.In order to improve the storage reliability assessment,the method of storage reliability assessment for explosive initiator was proposed based on time series model using the sensitivity test data.In the method,the up and down test was used to estimate the distribution parameters of threshold.And an approach to design the up and down test was present to draw better estimations.Furthermore,the method of shrinkage estimation was introduced to get a better estimation of scale parameter by combining the sample information with prior information.The simulation result shows that the shrinkage estimation is better than traditional estimation under certain conditions.With the distribution parameters estimations,the time series models were used to describe the changing trends of distribution parameters along with storage time.Then for a fixed storage time,the distribution parameters were predicted based on the models.Finally,the confidence interval of storage reliability was obtained by fiducial inference.The illustrative example shows that the method is available for storage reliability assessment of the explosive initiator with high reliability.     

A note on some series representations of the integral of a bivariate normal distribution over an offset circle

Consider the problem of computing an offset circle probability under a normal distribution. One approach is to utilize an infinite series representation in which case it is important to have rapid convergence and a good upper bound on the error introduced by consideration of only a finite number of terms of the series. We relate three seemingly different series representations. In particular we show how two series representations for the bivariate case can be obtained by specializing more general results of Harold Ruben.     

Pairwise model discrimination with applications in lifetime distributions and degradation processes

Reliability data obtained from life tests and degradation tests have been extensively used for purposes such as estimating product reliability and predicting warranty costs. When there is more than one candidate model, an important task is to discriminate between the models. In the literature, the model discrimination was often treated as a hypothesis test and a pairwise model discrimination procedure was carried out. Because the null distribution of the test statistic is unavailable in most cases, the large sample approximation and the bootstrap were frequently used to find the acceptance region of the test. Although these two methods are asymptotically accurate, their performance in terms of size and power is not satisfactory in small sample size. To enhance the small‐sample performance, we propose a new method to approximate the null distribution, which builds on the idea of generalized pivots. Conventionally, the generalized pivots were often used for interval estimation of a certain parameter or function of parameters in presence of nuisance parameters. In this study, we further extend the idea of generalized pivots to find the acceptance region of the model discrimination test. Through extensive simulations, we show that the proposed method performs better than the existing methods in discriminating between two lifetime distributions or two degradation models over a wide range of sample sizes. Two real examples are used to illustrate the proposed methods.     

Inequality‐based reliability estimates for complex systems

Full‐system testing for large‐scale systems is often infeasible or very costly. Thus, when estimating system reliability, it is desirable to use a method that uses subsystem tests, which are often less expensive and more feasible. This article presents a method for bounding full‐system reliabilities based on subsystem tests and, if available, full‐system tests. The method does not require that subsystems be independent. It accounts for dependencies through the use of certain probability inequalities. The inequalities provide the basis for valid reliability calculations while not requiring independent subsystems or full‐system tests. The inequalities allow for test information on pairwise subsystem failure modes to be incorporated, thereby improving the bound on system reliability. We illustrate some of the properties of the estimates via an example application. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

Improving series and parallel systems through mixtures of duplicated dependent components

We discuss suitable conditions such that the lifetime of a series or of a parallel system formed by two components having nonindependent lifetimes may be stochastically improved by replacing the lifetimes of each of the components by an independent mixture of the individual components' lifetimes. We also characterize the classes of bivariate distributions where this phenomenon arises through a new weak dependence notion. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

概率分布在库存弹药贮存可靠性研究中的应用

本文探讨在库存弹药贮存可靠性研究中应用概率分布的特点,阐述了几种常用概率分布的可靠性特性和物理模型,分析了弹药系统的可靠性结构特征和贮存失效特性,最后提出了在库存弹药的贮存可靠性研究中选择概率分布的依据。     

Designing a screening experiment for highly reliable products

Within a reasonable life‐testing time, how to improve the reliability of highly reliable products is one of the great challenges to today's manufacturers. By using a resolution III experiment together with degradation test, Tseng, Hamada, and Chiao (1995) presented an interesting case study of improving the reliability of fluorescent lamps. However, in conducting such an experiment, they did not address the problem of how to choose the optimal settings of variables, such as sample size, inspection frequency, and termination time for each run, which are influential to the correct identification of significant factors and the experimental cost. Assuming that the product's degradation paths satisfy Wiener processes, this paper proposes a systematic approach to the aforementioned problem. First, an intuitively appealing identification rule is proposed. Next, under the constraints of a minimum probability of correct decision and a maximum probability of incorrect decision of the proposed identification rule, the optimum test plan (including the determinations of inspection frequency, sample size, and termination time for each run) can be obtained by minimizing the total experimental cost. An example is provided to illustrate the proposed method. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 514–526, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10024