Reliability Engineering

Joel A. Nachlas received his B. E. S. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1970, his M. S. in 1972 and his Ph. D. in 1976 both from the University of Pittsburgh. He served on the faculty of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech for 41 years and retired in March, 2016. His research interests are in the applications of probability and statistics to problems in reliability and quality control. In addition to his normal teaching activities during his time at Virginia Tech, he served as the coordinator for the department’s graduate program in Operations Research and for their dual master’s degree that is operated with Ecole des Mines de Nantes in France. From 1992 through 2011, he regularly taught Reliability Theory at the Ecole Polytechnique de Nice-Sophia Antipolis. He is the co-author of over fifty refereed articles, has served in numerous editorial and referee capacities and has lectured on reliability and maintenance topics throughout North America and Europe.

• Preface; Author; Introduction; System Structures; Reliability of System Structures; Reliability over Time; Failure Processes; Age Acceleration; Nonparametric Statistical Methods; Parametric Statistical Methods; Repairable Systems I: Renewal and Instantaneous Repair; Repairable Systems II: Non-renewal and Instantaneous Repair; Availability Analysis; Preventive Maintenance; Predictive Maintenance; Special Topics; Appendix A: Numerical Approximations; Appendix B: Numerical Evaluation of the Weibull Renewal Functions; Appendix C: Laplace Transform for the Key Renewal Theorem; Appendix D: Probability Tables; References; Index

"The text presents material in a clear and logical progression. Concepts, covered in the early chapters, are developed through to systems level prediction techniques in the final chapters. The text is appropriate for both graduate level courses and also practitioners."— John Andrews, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom"Overall, the text offers a well-written, cohesive, in-depth treatment of descriptive and prescriptive concepts in reliability evaluation and maintenance planning. It should prove a valuable resource for both graduate students and practicing engineers."— Lisa Maillart, University of Pittsburgh, USA"The book discusses reliability engineering with a combination of statistical rigor and good readability. It covers both reliability models and analysis of failure data. The text is well organized and methodological and contains examples and exercises as well. Students will certainly find it an excellent introduction to reliability concepts and modeling approaches, and practitioners will find it a great reference source."— Bengt Klefsjö, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden"Professor Nachlas’ book is a great contribution to regular and advanced topics in textbooks on reliability and maintenance. It covers several areas with up-to-date material, particularly in statistical analysis and preventive and predictive maintenance."— Dragan Banjevic, University of Toronto, Canada