Introduction to Reliability Engineering

This text provides an integrated introduction to the theory and practice of reliability engineering from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. Reliability concepts are presented in a careful, self-contained manner and related to the issue of engineering practices - the setting of design criteria, the accumulation of test and field data, the determination of design margins, and maintenance procedures and the assessment of safety hazards. The reliability characteristics of a wide spectrum of engineering systems are compared and contrasted for failures ranging in consequence from inconvenience to grave threats to public safety. The book presents reliability concepts rigorously, but care is taken in presenting the mathematics clearly for students who have had no courses in probability or statistics.