Parametric Analysis of Repairable Systems Under Competing Risks

• Activity Number: 298
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Author(s): Ananda Sen* and Anupap Somboonsavatdee
• Companies: University of Michigan and Chulalongkorn University
• Keywords: Competing Risks ; Repaiarble Systems ; Power Law Process ; Missing Cause of Failure ; Shared Frailty

Abstract

Focus of this talk is on repairable systems for which relevant data comprise successive event times for a recurrent phenomenon along with an event-count indicator. Such data commonly occur both in industrial and biomedical contexts. In an industrial setting, typically a single expensive prototype of a complex system is observed until failure, followed by design changes, and subsequent retesting. In the biomedical context, it is more common to encounter data on multiple subjects with only a few recurrences per subject. In this talk we describe the findings from a study of recurrent events subject to competing risks. We adopt a parametric premise under the Power Law Process model that has found considerable attention in describing recurrent failures of complex mechanical systems. Some non-standard asymptotic results in this context will be discussed. We will also report results from an extensive simulation study that supplements the theoretical findings. A special focus will be on the case where the cause of failure may not be fully identified (masked). The methodology will be illustrated on recurrent failure data obtained from a warranty claim database for a fleet of automobiles.