doi:10.1155/2007/43565 Research Article Reliability of Modules with Load-Sharing Components

To increase the reliability of modules, and thus of systems assembled from them, they are frequently constructed using parallel load-sharing components. Examples include jet engines, electrical power networks, and telecommunications networks. We consider the situation when the components operate independently, but when any one of them fails, the load of the failed component is instantaneously distributed among the working com-ponents. The entire module fails when the last working component fails. We analyze the survival probability and residual life expectancy of such modules. An obvious application is to the case of the 1998 Auckland power supply failure in New Zealand. Copyright © 2007 Mark Bebbington et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. Introduction an