Anaysis of System Lifetime Subject to Two Classes of Random Shocks

We consider a system whose inherent life follows an Erlang distribution, which is subject to two heterogeneous random shocks. Minor shocks arrive according to a renewal process and each causes the system to fail independently with a certain probability. A major shock whose interarrival times follow an Erlang distribution causes the system to fail with probability one. The Laplace transform of the distribution of the time to system failure is derived in a functional form of the Laplace transform of the interarrival time distribution of minor shocks. An algorithm is given for the computation of the moments of the time to system failure.