Consideration of object ageing in estimating its reliability

Summary

The issues related to the estimation of reliability of nonstationary (ageing) objects that are characterized by increasing failure rate with time are discussed. The lack of methods that could be used in engineering evaluation of the reliability of these objects is stated. The method is suggested that consists in nominal replacing the nonstationary object with fictive stationary one with failure rate constant value that is selected basing on several additional considerations. The relationships readily usable in practice and expressing the reliability index of the fictive objects through the parameters of the ageing characteristics of the actual nonstationary objects were obtained.

Key words

non stationarity , reliability indicator , fictive replacement of objects , replacement criterion , probability of failure-free operation , calculation method