Design of bivariate step-stress partially accelerated degradation test plan using copula and gamma process

Many mechanical, electrical and electronic products have more than one performance characteristics (PCs). For example the performance degradation of rubidium discharge lamps can be characterized by the rubidium consumption or the decreasing intensity the lamp. The product may degrade due to all the PCs which may be independent or dependent. This paper deals with the design of optimal bivariate step-stress partially accelerated degradation test (PADT) with degradation paths modelled by gamma process. The dependency between PCs has been modelled through Frank copula function. In partial step-stress loading, the unit is tested at usual stress for some time, and then the stress is accelerated. This helps in preventing over-stressing of the test specimens. Failure occurs when the performance characteristic crosses the critical value the first time. Under the constraint of total experimental cost, the optimal test duration and the optimal number of inspections at each intermediate stress level are obtained using variance optimality criterion.