On construction of general classes of bivariate distributions

In this study, taking into account the physics of failure (death) and the interrelationship between the items involved, we propose a general methodology for constructing new ‘classes of bivariate distributions’. The approach is based on the stochastic modeling of the residual lifetime of an item after the failure of the other item. We derive the joint and the corresponding marginal distributions in a class constructed from the modeling of conditional failure rate. It is shown that the proposed new class includes several well-known bivariate distributions as special bivariate models. As illustrated, a number of new families of bivariate distributions are generated from the new class proposed in this paper. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the relationship to Freund’s bivariate exponential distribution.