Reliability analysis of load-sharing m-out-of-n systems with arbitrary load and different probability distributions of time to failure

The reliability analysis of load‐sharing m‐out‐of‐n systems where the workload is shared by the remaining working units when a unit fails is proposed in the paper. General expressions are provided for the m‐out‐of‐n system reliability by arbitrary probability distributions of time to failure of units. Simplified methods are given for computing the survivor function in cases when the time to unit failure is governed by the Weibull and exponential probability distributions. The system survivor function and the mean time to failure in the explicit form are obtained for systems with arbitrary load (decreasing and increasing) by the exponential time to unit failure. Numerical examples illustrate the properties of load‐sharing m‐out‐of‐n systems.