New survival distributions that quantify the gain from eliminating flawed components

Baker, RD

Abstract

A general method for deriving new survival distributions from old is presented. This yields a class of useful mixture distributions. Fitting such distributions to failure-time data allows estimation of the improvement in reliability that could be gained from eliminating ‘frail’ components. One
model parameter is the proportional increase of expected survival time that could be achieved. Some 2 and 3 parameter distributions in this class are described, which are extensions of the Weibull, exponential, gamma and
lognormal distributions. The methodology is illustrated by fitting some well travelled datasets.
Keywords: Weibull distribution, gamma distribution, mixture distribution,
hazard function, partial integration, frailty model

Citation

Baker, R. (2019). New survival distributions that quantify the gain from eliminating flawed components. Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 185(May 19), 493-501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2019.01.013

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 10, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 11, 2020
• Journal: Reliability Engineering & System Safety
• Print ISSN: 0951-8320
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 185
• Issue: May 19
• Pages: 493-501
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2019.01.013
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2019.01.013
• Related Public URLs: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/reliability-engineering-and-system-safety