ISSN: 0090-3973
Published Online: 2 April 2009
Page Count: 5

Design of Sudden Death Tests for Estimation of a Weibull Percentile

McCool, John I.
Professor of Systems Engineering,Penn State Great Valley,PA,

(Received 21 April 2008; accepted 1 March 2009)

Abstract

Sudden Death Testing is a strategy for conducting life tests in which n specimens are divided into g groups each of size m (n=gm). Testing continues simultaneously on the specimens in each group until the first failure occurs in each. The testing thus results in g failures among the n specimens. It is shown how to determine the group size m so that the pth percentile of the Weibull distribution of life may be estimated with greater precision than in a conventional life test wherein n specimens are tested until the occurrence of the gth failure. Comparisons of the expected duration of the life tests in both cases are given for two combinations of g and m for four values of the Weibull shape parameter.

Keywords:
pivotal functions, sudden death tests, progressive censoring, maximum likelihood, confidence limits

Paper ID: JTE101825
DOI: 10.1520/JTE101825
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