Citation

Walls LA, Bendell A. Reliab. Eng. 1985; 13(3): 133-156.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0143-8174(85)90091-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Some implicit difficulties in using Weibull probability papers for identification and estimation are considered. Such papers should linearise the plot, but their inappropriate use will result in systematic curvature. Sampling variation, however, implies that even if the distribution is Weibull the plot may not appear linear, and vice-versa. Little is known about the sampling variation of the shape of plots and this is partly investigated in the current paper. We also use an experimental study to investigate the subjective variation (human factors) in identifying and estimating the Weibull distribution from probability plots. The total variation in the estimation procedure is divided into sampling and subjective components. A number of issues are raised about the design and use of Weibull probability papers and visual displays.