Basic Reliability Engineering Analysis

Book excerpt: BASIC Reliability Engineering Analysis describes reliability activities as they occur during an industrial development cycle. Reliability as a function of time is discussed, along with systems modeling, predicting and estimating reliability, and quality assurance. This book is comprised of seven chapters and begins with a brief introduction to the BASIC computer language used in the programs in the text. The second chapter describes the way reliability is taken into account in different parts of the development cycle, while the third chapter discusses the basic concepts of reliability as a function of time, failure rate, and some basic statistical concepts. The fourth chapter deals with the modeling of complex systems and related topics such as availability and maintainability. The fifth chapter describes the activities that can go on early in the development cycle, while the sixth chapter gives some of the techniques that can be used to analyze data generated during development or later in the cycle when equipment is in use. The final chapter offers a brief look at quality assurance and acquaints the reader with the concepts involved, using inspection by attributes to introduce the ideas. This monograph is intended for engineers or managers with a particular interest in reliability, as well as for engineering undergraduates.