RBF network based reliability assessment of performance degradation

Since it is very difficult to describe the complex non-linear relationship between performance degradation measures and environmental factors by mathematic expressions,we put forward a method for modeling degradation path based on RBF network.The RBF network can approach any non-linear functions,the feature is used for modeling the degradation paths and forecast the lifetime of products based on the critical level of degradation.All of the estimated lifetimes are taken as data of complete failure to implement reliability assessment,thus the problem of lack of time-to-failure data is solved.The fatigue crack growth data are analyzed by using RBF network.The function approaching capability of RBF network is proved,and the result of lifetime forecast is satisfactory.It is validated that the RBF network can model the degradation paths preferably,even under much less degradation data,and the precision of lifetime forecast is high.