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Approximation of Mean
Time Between Failure When a System Has Periodic Maintenance
2002
Award Winner
Mitchell J. Mondro, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a simple technique for estimating the mean time
between failure (MTBF) of a system that has periodic maintenance at
regular intervals. This type of maintenance is typically found in high
reliability, mission-oriented applications where it is convenient to
perform maintenance after the completion of the mission. This approximation
technique can greatly simplify the MTBF analysis for large systems.
The motivation for this analysis was to understand the nature of the
error in the approximation and to develop a means for quantifying that
error. This paper provides the derivation of the equations that bound
the error that can result when using this approximation method. It shows
that, for most applications, the MTBF calculations can be greatly simplified
with only a very small sacrifice in accuracy.
Publication
Copyright © 2002 IEEE. Reprinted from IEEE Transactions
on Reliability, Vol. 51, No. 2, June 2002. This material is posted
here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not
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Additional Search Keywords
mean time between failure (MTBF), periodic maintenance, reliability modeling
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