Toward optimal decision making for material maintenance systems

Both destructive and nondestructive testing are used to insure reliability of mechanical systems. Economic considerations influence decisions regarding the type and amount of testing, and the acceptable risk of inservice failure. A general, flexible model permitting optimization in terms of costs is needed. A preliminary model is established which is applicable to components with a Weibull failure distribution. The model permits determination of cost-optimal number of destructive tests to estimate the parameters of the distribution and a corresponding optimal service interval. The model is illustrated with simulated failure data for a hypothetical component.