Citation

Ichikawa M. Reliab. Eng. 1983; 5(3): 173-180.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0143-8174(83)90012-4

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The relation between the probability of failure Pf and the conventional central factor of safety nc (= R/S) is re-examined using a non-parametric (distribution-free) approach, where R and S are the means of strength R and stress S, respectively. Applying Bienayme-Chebyshev and Camp-Meidell inequalities to the distributions of R -- S and ln R -- ln S instead of the distribution of R/S, new formulae are derived which provide the upper bound of Pf for a given value of nc as well as the upper bound of nc required to suppress Pf below a specified allowable value. The upper bounds of Pf and nc determined by the new formulae are considerably smaller than the hitherto known upper bounds.