Harmonizing classical reliability with integrity analysis

Compares the classical reliability theory with integrity theory. Classical reliability theory assumes a Gaussian distribution of failures and sets the lifetime of a product to be the time until the product reaches an acceptable operational risk of failures. Integrity analysis assumes that failures belong to a finite distribution of known causes. The authors investigate and relate classical reliability to deterministic analysis of integrity for mechanical systems. It is shown that the lower limit of a finite distribution may be expressed by an acceptable operational risk on an equivalent Gaussian distribution from a beta distribution.< >