Extended Weibull distributions in reliability engineering

Abstract

Weibull distribution with monotonic failure rate is studied and applied in wide aspects, and this study has been specifically focused on the extended Weibull distributions with bathtub-shaped failure rate (BFR) property, which is more useful and practical to industrial and manufacturing products. A new and flexible BFR distribution, namely Weibull extension distribution, was proposed and found out to be a good alternative of BFR models. Goodness of fit tests were examined for model selections and validity. It is also meaningful to study underlying relationship between bathtub curve and change points of BFR and mean residual life. Finally, simulation studies and real case studies were carried out to investigate the applications of BFR model.