New reliability model for complex systems based on stochastic processes and survival signature

Abstract

For systems with complicated structures, reliability analysis based on survival signature has been carried out by modelling time-to-failure data with specific distributions. However, for highly reliable systems, only little or no failure data may be available. To enable reliability analysis without failure data, a new generalised reliability method is proposed for complex systems, based on the survival signature and using stochastic processes to model degradation. The combination of the survival signature and stochastic processes enables the proposed method to be applied to complex systems with different structures and stochastically degrading components. First, system reliability is analysed based on the survival signature and a generalised stochastic process. Then, component reliability analysis based on the generalised stochastic process is introduced using Wiener and Gamma processes. Finally, the approach presented in this paper is illustrated using two numerical examples, and the estimation results are compared with those calculated using failure time distribution functions.