Fundamentals of Design for Reliability

Comprehensive definition of reliability. Introduction to reliability engineering, its basic definitions, applications and benefits. Confidence intervals and levels. Concept of target reliability. Case histories from aerospace, military, process control and power systems applications. Basic statistical and analytical functions and distribution types used by reliability engineers. Reliability analysis during the design phase. Qualification tests for components and assemblies. Interfaces of reliability, maintainability and risk engineering. Design guidelines for reliability, maintainability and quality. Statistical reliability testing. Reliability during the production phase. Standards about aerospace, defense and nuclear engineering. System reviews and related checklists. Construction of fault trees and fault tree analysis. Design of reliability testing. Failure causes and types. Effects of environmental conditions, age, mission time and stress. Mission profile and requirements. Failure modes, effects and criticality analysis and two different methods supported by examples. Ageing testing methods. Role of reliability departments in engineering organizations and systems projects.