Assignment 1

1. Define reliability( both qualitative and

quantitative definition).
2. List objectives of reliability
3. List applications of reliability engineering.
4. Differentiate between quality and Reliability.
5. Explain Bath-tub curve with neat sketch
6. what are the causes of failures of systems or
components of system.
7. What are the role of reliability analyst in
manufacturing industry.
 ASSIGNMENT NO.2
1) The authorities of university wish to form a c0mmittee of 4
engineers for inspecting the functioning of engineering colleges. Three
electronics, four mechanical, two civil and one computer engineers
showed interest to work as committee members. Find the probability
that the committee consists 0f a)one engineer of each branch
b)at least one electronic engineer.

2)

for the truss shown, the structural elements 1 and 7, 3 and 5, 2 and 6
have identical failure characteristics. Let the probability of failure be
P(1)=P(7)=0.02,
P(2)=P(6)=0.01,
P(3)=P(5)=0.02,
P(4)=0.03,
a) Calculate the reliability of the structure
b) Calculate the probability of failure.

3) A target is situated along a linear segment MN that is being fired

upon. The linear segment is divided into five segments E1,E2,E3,E4,E5.
The target is situated in one of these segments and the probability that
the target lies in one or another of these segments is given by P(E1) =
0.48, P(E2)= P(E3) = = 0.21, P(E4) =P(E5) =0.05.
M N

E4 E2 E1 E3 E5

Due to unavoidable errors in firing, the probability of destroying the

target (event A) when it is one or another of the segments is as
follows.
P(A/E1) = 0.56, P(A/E2) = 0.18, P(A/E3) = 0.16, P(A/E4) = 0.06,
P(A/E5) = 0.02.
If a shot is fired and the target is destroyed, calculate P( E1/A).

4)An electronic measuring instrument has to pass a test before

installation. For this it is found that 95% of all instrument pass the test,
but the test is assumed to be only 90% reliable. What is the probability
that the perfect instrument will pass the test?

5)An urban electric power company buys its requirement of energy

meters from 4 different manufactures on an average manufacturer E1
supplies 40% of the company’s requirement, whereas each of the
other manufacturer E2,E3 andE4 supplies 20% of the requirements.
The meters from the manufacturers E1 pass the acceptance test 95%
of the times, whereas the meters supplied by the others pass the
acceptance test 90% of the times. If in a given installation an energy
meter is found to be defective, what are the probabilities that the
meter was supplied by E1,E2,E3 or E4?
 Assignment 4
1) Define PDF, CDF and hazard rate.

2) Derive the expression that gives relation between hazard rate,

PDF and reliability of component.

3) Define mean failure rate, MTTF and MTBF.

4) In the life testing of 10 specimens of a mini-mixer the time to

failure for each specimen is recorded as given in table. Calculate
mean failure rate for T=900 Hrs. and the MTTF for all 10
specimens.
Specimen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No.
Time to 805 810 815 820 825 832 842 856 875 900
failures(Hrs
)

Also plot 1). Failure density Vs. Time graph

2). Failure rate (Z) Vs. Time graph
3). Reliability Vs. Time graph.

5) Explain different types of hazard models.( constant hazard

model, Linearly increasing hazard model and the Weibull model)

6) The failure rates of three components are 0.065 × 10-3, 0.18 ×

10-3 and 0.96 × 10-3 per hours. Evaluate the failure rate, MTTF of a
system and the reliability at 400 Hrs. if these components are
connected in series.

7) The failure rates of three components are 0.06 × 10-3, 0.18 × 10-3
and 0.92 × 10-6 per hrs. Find the failure rate, MTTP of the system
and reliability at 550 hrs if these components are connected in
parallel.

8) Explain r out of m system for reliability analysis.

 Assignment -5
1]Define Redundancy. Explain different types of redundancies
employed to improve system reliability.

2]What is meant by tie set and cut set methods?

3]Write down the minimal tiesets and cutsets for the block diagram
shown

0.9
0.9

0.95 0.9

0.8
0.9

Fig(a)

0.8 0.9

0.9 0.9 0.7

Fig(b)

4]For the block diagram shown, write down the minimal tie sets and
minimal cutsets. From these obtain the reliability of the system,
assuming the elements to be independent. Also draw equivalent block
diagram obtained from tie sets and cut sets.

(Ans-Ti=ab,c ;Ci=ac,bc ;R(s)=Rc+RaRb-RaRbRc

5] Problem 8.5 (L.S.Srinath=Pg 197)

6]Explain star and delta structure

7] Write a note on FMEA (Failure mode and effect analysis)

8]Write a note on fault tree analysis with example.

 ASSIGNMENT NO.6
1) A component has a normal distribution of failure times with
mean=40000 cycles and standard deviation = 2000 cycles.
Find the reliability and hazard function at 38000 cycles.
2) The working life of a certain type of electric bulb follows
normal distribution with standard deviation of 50 hour and
mean 500 hour. If an organization uses 1000 of these bulbs,
determine the expected number of bulbs to be replaced at or
before 400 hour.
( Ans. About 2.28 bulbs)
3) During the transport of a large number of electronic
components the probability of failure of any component is 0.2.
If we take a random sample of 10 components received,
determine the probability of
a) Getting just two defective components ( Ans:
0.302)
b) Getting exactly six good components, and ( Ans:
0.0881)
c) Five or more of them being good. ( Ans:
0.9936)
4) The failure time of a component is lognormally distributed with
mean=8 and S.D=2. Find the reliability of component and
hazard rate for a life of 250 time units.
5] Write a note on Weibul distribution.
6] The compressive strength of concrete is log-normally
distributed
with parameters µy = 4MPa and σy=0.5 MPa. What is the
probability that the strength is less than or equal to 10 MPa.
7] Write a note on choice of distributions.
 Assignment-7
1]Differentiate between parametric and nonparametric methods of
reliability analysis.

2]Write the properties of good estimation.

3]Write the procedure for MLE. What are the properties of MLE.

4]Estimate the parameters of lognormal distribution using MLE.

The Pdf is given by
1  1  lnt − μ 2 
f(t) = exp −   
σt 2π  2 σ  
 

5]Write a note on confidence intervals and types of censored data.

6]Data for the failure times of 309 radio transmitter receivers are given
in the following table

Time interval Failures Time interval Failures

Hour Hour
0-50 41 300-350 18
50-100 44 350-400 16
100-150 50 400-450 15
150-200 48 450-500 11
200-250 28 500-550 7
250-300 29 550-600 11

At 600hours 51 of the receiver transmitters remained in operation. Use

the non parametric method to plot the reliability and failure rate from
this data.

7]Estimate parameters of exponential distribution?(Naikan=page 257)

8]Ex 7.5 (Naikan=page 262)(lognormal paper)

9]Ex 7.4 (Naikan=page 262)( normal paper)

 SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER

Instructions:
a] Question number 1 is compulsory.
b] Answer any four from the remaining six questions.
c] use of statistical tables and charts are permitted.
d] Assume suitable data if necessary.

Q1
a) Distinguish between reliability and quality of a product. (05)
b) List important properties of MLE. (05)
c) What is meant by tie set and cut set methods?
(05)
d) Three light bulbs are selected at random from 15 bulbs of which
five are defective. Find the probability that
(05)
i) none is defective
ii) at least one is defective.
Q2.
a) Explain with neat sketch failure pattern of component.
(10)
b) Explain method of decomposition for finding reliability of
system.

(10)
Q3.
a) The working life of machine component follows normal
distribution with standard deviation of 50 hour and mean 500
hour. If an organization uses 1000 of these components,
determine the expected number of components to be replaced
at or before 400 hour.
(10)

b] Estimate the parameters of lognormal distribution using MLE.

The PDF is given by
 1  1  ln[t] − μ 2 
f(t) = exp −   
σt 2π  2
 σ  
(10)

Q4.
a) Write down the minimal tiesets and cutsets for the block diagram
shown. Also find Reliability.
(10)

0.85
0.85

0.9 0.9

0.8
0.9

b) An urban electric power company buys its requirement of energy

meters from 4 different manufactures on an average manufacturer E1
supplies 40% of the company’s requirement, whereas each of the
other manufacturer E2,E3 andE4 supplies 20% of the requirements.
The meters from the manufacturers E1 pass the acceptance test 95%
of the times, whereas the meters supplied by the others pass the
acceptance test 90% of the times. If in a given installation an energy
meter is found to be defective, what are the probabilities that the
meter was supplied by E1,E2,E3 or E4?
(10)
Q5.
a] During the transport of a large number of electronic
components the probability of failure of any component is 0.3. If
we take a random sample of 10 components received, determine
the probability of
a) Getting just two defective components
b) Getting exactly seven good components, and
c) Five or more of them being good.
(10)

b] Explain the importance of star and delta technique for

evaluating reliability of system. (10)
Q6.
a) The hazard model of a device is nonlinear and is given by
Z(t) = k tm
 Derive the corresponding R(t) and f(t) functions and sketch them
for various values of k and m.
(10)
b] Define Redundancy. Explain different types of redundancies
employed to improve system reliability. (10)

Q7. Write a note on any four of the following

a] Kaplan Meier method. (05)
b] Fault tree analysis.
(05)
c] Reliability testing. (05)
d] Types of censored data. (05)
e] Role of reliability analyst in manufacturing industry. (05)