On the reliability function of the bridge structure under random environment
by
Sib Narayan Guria
Bidhannagar College, Kolkata-700 0064

A multivariate distribution for describing the life lengths of the components of a system, which operates in an environment that is different from the laboratory environment, has been proposed by Lindley and Singpurwalla (1986). Environment effect on the reliability function of parallel and series system was studied in Currit and Singpurwalla (1988). In this paper, the properties of reliability function of bridge structure system are studied and comparisons are made with the reliability function under the assumption the bridge structure system is in the ideal laboratory condition. It is important to note that the reliability function of bridge structure system whose components share a common unknown environment cannot be characterized by any of the well-known class of distributions that have been proposed in the mathematical theory of reliability. This observation suggests the need for defining a new class of failure distributions. Here, I also study Bayesian inference of reliability function of the bridge structure.

Date received: March 21, 2002