Lifetime Data Analysis

Lifetime data analysis is the basis of reliability prediction as well as other indexes such as failure rate and unreliability. To predict such an index for a specific period of time and plot the reliability and failure rate function, it is necessary to apply different best fit methods to know, first, which probability density function (PDF) fits better with the historical data and, second, the PDF parameter that must be predicted, which enables the reliability and failure rate function plot and index prediction. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the different types of PDF that will fit best for different oil and gas equipment. In addition, it will present different goodness-of-fit methods as well as concepts related to reliability prediction. To facilitate the understanding of such methods, many examples will be presented as well as real cases of lifetime data analysis applied to oil and gas equipment such as pumps, valves, compressors, heat exchangers, pipelines, and furnaces.