A Simulation Analysis of Bivariate Availability Models

Equipment behavior is often discussed in terms of age and use. For example, an automobile is frequently referred to 3 years old with 30,000 miles. Bivariate failure modeling provides a framework for studying system behavior as a function of two variables. This is meaningful when studying the reliability/availability of systems and equipment.

This thesis extends work done in the area of bivariate failure modeling. Four bivariate failure models are selected for analysis. The study includes exploration of bivariate random number generation. The random data is utilized in estimating the bivariate renewal function and bivariate availability function. The two measures provide insight on system behavior characterized by multiple variables.

A method for generating bivariate failure and repair data is developed for each model. Of the four models, two represent correlated random variables; the other two, stochastic functionally dependent variables. Also, methods of estimating the bivariate renewals function and bivariate availability function are constructed. The bivariate failure and repair data from the four failure models is incorporated into the estimation processes to study various failure scenarios.