• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.85-105
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• 2016

In this paper accelerated life testing is incorporated in quality control technique of acceptance sampling plan to induce early failures in high reliability products.Stress under accelerated condition can be applied in constant-stress, step-stress and progressive-stress or combination of such loadings. A ramp-stress results when stress is increased linearly (from zero) with time. In this paper optimum failure-censored ramp-stress accelerated life test sampling plan for log-logistic distribution has been formulated with cost considerations. The log-logistic distribution has been found appropriate for insulating materials. The optimal plans consist in finding optimum sample size, sample proportion allocated to each stress, and stress rate factor such that producer's and consumer's interests are safeguarded. Variance optimality criterion is used when expected cost per lot is not taken into consideration, and bilevel programming approach is used in cost optimization problems. The methods developed have been illustrated using some numerical examples, and sensitivity analyses carried out in the context of ramp-stress ALTSP based on variable SSP for proportion nonconforming.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.125-150
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• 2014

Accelerated life tests (ALTs) are extensively used to determine the reliability of a product in a short period of time. Test units are subject to elevated stresses which yield quick failures. ALT can be carried out using constant-stress, step-stress, progressive-stress, cyclic-stress or random-stress loading and their various combinations. An ALT with linearly increasing stress is ramp-stress test. Much of the previous work on planning ALTs has focused on constant-stress, step-stress, ramp-stress schemes and their various combinations where the stress is generally increased. This paper presents an optimal design of ramp soak-stress ALT model which is based on the principle of Thermal cycling. Thermal cycling involves applying high and low temperatures repeatedly over time. The optimal plan consists in finding out relevant experimental variables, namely, stress rates and stress rate change points, by minimizing variance of reliability function with pre-specified mission time under normal operating conditions. The Burr type XII life distribution and time-censored data have been used for the purpose. Burr type XII life distribution has been found appropriate for accelerated life testing experiments. The method developed has been explained using a numerical example and sensitivity analysis carried out.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.208-219
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• 2004

This paper considers a nonparametric estimation of lifetime distribution for ramp stress tests with stress bound under intermittent inspection. The test items are inspected only at specified time points an⊂1 so the collected observations are grouped data. Under the cumulative exposure model, two nonparametric estimation methods of estimating the lifetime distribution at use condition stress are proposed for the situation which the time transformation function relating stress to lifetime is a type of the inverse power law. Each of items is initially put on test under ramp stress and then survivors are put on test under constant stress, where all failures in the Inspection interval are assumed to occur at the midi)oint or the endpoint of that interval. Two proposed estimators of quantile from grouped data consisting of the number of items failed in each inspection interval are numerically compared with the maximum likelihood estimator(MLE) based on Weibull distribution.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.21-44
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• 2017

Accelerated life tests (ALTs) are frequently used in manufacturing industries to evaluate the reliability of products within a reasonable amount of time and cost. Test units are subjected to elevated stresses which yield quick failures. Most of the previous works on designing ALT plans are focused on tests that involve a single stress. Many times more than one stress factor influence the product's functioning. This paper deals with the design of optimum modified ramp-stress ALT plan for Burr type XII distribution with Type-I censoring under two stress factors, viz., voltage and switching rate each at two levels- low and high. It is assumed that usage time to failure is power law function of switching rate, and voltage increases linearly with time according to modified ramp-stress scheme. The cumulative exposure model is used to incorporate the effect of changing stresses. The optimum plan is devised using D-optimality criterion wherein the ${\log}_{10}$ of the determinant of Fisher information matrix is maximized. The method developed has been explained using a numerical example and sensitivity carried out.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.34-47
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• 1993

Finite element models were developed for thermal and residual stress analysis for the specific welding problems. They were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the various welding heat input models, such as ramp heat input function and lumped pass models. Through the parametric studies, thermal-mechanical modeling sensitivity to the ramp function and lumping techniques was determined by comparing the predicted results with experimental data. The kinetics for residual stress formation during welding can be developed by iteration of various proposed mechanisms in the parametric study. A ramp heat input function was developed to gradually apply the heat flux with variable amplitude to the model. This model was used to avoid numerical convergence problems due to an instantaneous increase in temperature near the fusion zone. Additionally, it enables the model to include the effect of a moving arc in a two-dimensional plane. The ramp function takes into account the variation in the out of plane energy flow in a 2-D model as the arc approaches, travels across, and departs from each plane under investigation. A lumped pass model was developed to reduce the computation cost in the analysis of multipass welds. Several weld passes were assumed as one lumped pass in this model. Recommendations were provided about ramp lumping techniques and the optimum number of weld passes that can be combined into a single thermal input.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 1997

This paper considers maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of lifetime distribution under stress bounded ramp tests in which the stress is increased linearly from used condition stress to the stress u, pp.r bound. The following assumptions are used: exponential lifetime distribution under a constant stress, an inverse power law relationship between stress and mean of exponential lifetime distribution, and a cumulative exposure model for the effect of changing stress. Likelihood equations for the parameters involved in the model and asymptotic distribution of the estimators are obtained, and a numerical example is given.

• International Journal of Reliability and Applications
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.45-63
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• 2017

In this paper, we have formulated optimum Accelerated Life Test (ALT) plan for a parallel system with two independent components using masked data with ramp-stress loading scheme and Type-I censoring. Consider a system of two independent and non-identical components connected in parallel. Such a system fails whenever all of its components has failed. The exact component that causes the system to fail is often unknown due to cost and time constraint. For each parallel system at test, we observe its system's failure time and a set of component that includes the component actually causing the system to fail. The stress-life relationship is modelled using inverse power law, and cumulative exposure model is assumed to model the effect of changing stress. The optimal plan consists in finding out the optimum stress rate using D-optimality criterion. The method developed has been explained using a numerical example and sensitivity analysis carried out.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.79-93
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• 1999

The common accelerated life test(ALT) consists of test methods applying a constant stress, higher than the use condition stress, to items. There we, however, situations for which a progressive stress ALT, in which the stress on a test item is continuously increased with time, Is more convenient to perform testing and simpler in analyzing data than a constant stress ALT. When a product under constant stress s follows a Weibull distribution with parameters $\theta$(5) and $\beta$, maximum likelihood(ML) estimators of parameters involved in the model are obtained and their asymptotic distributions are derived under stress bounded ramp tests in which the stress is increased linearly from use condition stress to the stress upper bound. The optimum test plans are also found which minimize the asymptotic variance of the ML estimator of the log mean life at design constant stress. For selected values of the design parameters, tables useful for finding optimal test plans are given. The effect of the pre-estimates of design parameters is studied.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.459-471
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• 1996

This paper considers ramp tests for exponential lifetime distribution when there are limitations on test stress and test time. The inverse power law and a cumulative exposure model are assumed. Maximum likelihood (ML) estimators of model parameters and their asymptotic covariance matrix are obtained. The optimum ramp test plans are also found which minimize the asymptotic variance of the ML estimator of the log mean life at design constant stress. For selected values of the design parameters, tables useful for finding optimal test plans are given. The effect of the pre-estimates of design parameters is studied.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1054-1064
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• 2002

Numerical prediction of welding-induced residual stresses using the finite element method has been a common practice in the development or refinement of welded product designs. Various researchers have studied several thermal models associated with the welding process. Among these thermal models, ramp heat input and double-ellipsoid moving source have been investigated. These heat-source models predict the temperature fields and history with or without accuracy. However, these models can predict the thermal characteristics of the welding process that influence the formation of the inherent plastic strains, which ultimately determines the final state of residual stresses in the weldment. The magnitude and distribution of residual stresses are compared. Although the two models predict similar magnitude of the longitudinal stress, the double-ellipsoid moving source model predicts wider tensile stress zones than the other one. And, both the ramp heating and moving source models predict the stress results in reasonable agreement with the experimental data.