15/05/2016

BathtubcurveWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Bathtubcurve
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thebathtubcurveiswidelyusedinreliability
engineering.Itdescribesaparticularformofthe
hazardfunctionwhichcomprisesthreeparts:
Thefirstpartisadecreasingfailurerate,
knownasearlyfailures.
Thesecondpartisaconstantfailurerate,
knownasrandomfailures.
Thethirdpartisanincreasingfailurerate,
knownaswearoutfailures.
Thenameisderivedfromthecrosssectional
shapeofabathtub:steepsidesandaflat
bottom.
Thebathtubcurveisgeneratedbymappingthe
rateofearly"infantmortality"failureswhen
firstintroduced,therateofrandomfailureswith
constantfailurerateduringits"usefullife",and
finallytherateof"wearout"failuresasthe
productexceedsitsdesignlifetime.

The'bathtubcurve'hazardfunction(blue,uppersolidline)
isacombinationofadecreasinghazardofearlyfailure(red
dottedline)andanincreasinghazardofwearoutfailure
(yellowdottedline),plussomeconstanthazardofrandom
failure(green,lowersolidline).

Inlesstechnicalterms,intheearlylifeofaproductadheringtothebathtubcurve,thefailurerateishigh
butrapidlydecreasingasdefectiveproductsareidentifiedanddiscarded,andearlysourcesofpotential
failuresuchashandlingandinstallationerroraresurmounted.Inthemidlifeofaproductgenerally,once
itreachesconsumersthefailurerateislowandconstant.Inthelatelifeoftheproduct,thefailurerate
increases,asageandweartaketheirtollontheproduct.Manyconsumerproductlifecyclesstronglyexhibit
thebathtubcurve.
Whilethebathtubcurveisuseful,noteveryproductorsystemfollowsabathtubcurvehazardfunction,for
exampleifunitsareretiredorhavedecreaseduseduringorbeforetheonsetofthewearoutperiod,they
willshowfewerfailuresperunitcalendartime(notperunitusetime)thanthebathtubcurve.
Theterm"MilitarySpecification"isoftenusedtodescribesystemsinwhichtheinfantmortalitysectionof
thebathtubcurvehasbeenburnedoutorremoved.Thisisdonemainlyforlifecriticalorsystemcritical
applicationsasitgreatlyreducesthepossibilityofthesystemfailingearlyinitslife.Manufacturerswilldo
thisatsomecostgenerallybymeanssimilartoenvironmentalstressscreening.
Inreliabilityengineering,thecumulativedistributionfunctioncorrespondingtoabathtubcurvemaybe
analysedusingaWeibullchart.

Seealso
GompertzMakehamlawofmortality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

1/2

15/05/2016

BathtubcurveWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

References
Klutke,G.Kiessler,P.C.Wortman,M.A."Acriticallookatthebathtubcurve".IEEETransactionson
Reliability52(1):125129.doi:10.1109/TR.2002.804492.ISSN00189529.Retrieved20150616.
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bathtub_curve&oldid=715873804"
Categories: Reliabilityengineering Failure Curves
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon18April2016,at13:30.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmay
apply.Byusingthissite,youagreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.Wikipediaisa
registeredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofitorganization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

2/2