Reliability Modeling for Degrading Systems Subject to Random Direct Shocks Transmitted Between Components

ABSTRACT In this paper, a new approach for determining the reliability of systems subject to dependent competing failure processes, including degradation and random shocks, is presented. Unlike existing techniques that tend to consider the system as a whole, the proposed approach provides more realistic reliability predictions for the entire system by considering the components of the system and their relationships individually when subjected to shocks. In the proposed approach, it is assumed that the imposed shocks may affect one or more components of the system, but not necessarily affect the whole system. When a shock is imposed on a component, a certain amount of the intensity of the shock‐specified by the shock transmission coefficient, may be transmitted to the adjoining components. The degradation damage caused by the shocks depends not only on the type of shock but also on the component exposed to the shock. Therefore, the same shocks imposed on different components can have different effects on the degradation of the components and the system. The proposed approach is successfully applied to a metal oxide gas sensor and is readily applicable to other systems.