Life-cycle costs and comparative statistical techniques for censored reliability data

A number of non-parametric statistical tests, suitable for the solution of the two-sample problem with censored data, are discussed. The tests presented are Gehan’s modification of the Wilcoxon test, Logrank, and Peto-Prentice’s generalization of the Wilcoxon test. These tests are further modified to incorporate the comparison of the life cycle costs, associated with each of the two samples. The paper examines a number of alternative formulations of the integrated weight functions, and attempts to select the most representative form.