A stochastic model for a general load-sharing system under overload condition

Abstract

A load-sharing parallel system functions if at least one unit in the system is functioning and the surviving units share the load. In most of research on load-sharing system, the performance of the system has been studied only for the case when the lifetimes of components in the system follow exponential distributions. In this paper a load-sharing parallel system is considered when the lifetimes of the units in the system are any continuous random variables. The reliability function of the system is derived and the problem of load allocation is also considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.