Reliability Analysis References

Main References

Statistical Methods for Reliability Data. (1998) William Q. Meeker and Luis A. Escobar. Wiley
Survival Analysis Using the SAS System: A Practical Guide. (1995) Paul D. Allison. SAS Institute Inc.

Reliability Engineering Books

Practical Reliability Engineering. Second Edition. (1985) Patrick D. T. O' Connor. Wiley. (Read this to learn the language and favorite techniques of practicing reliability engineers. Military reliability standards that you should know about are also discussed.)
Reliability by Design. (1990) K. S. Vanderbei, W. W. Everett, R. J. Furlong, Jr., D. J. Klinger, R. V. León, M. Tortorella. AT&T Publication. To order call (800) 432-6600 and ask for Select Code No. 500-021. (This book deals with reliability program management in the context of non-military system design and development.)
The CRE Examination Study Guide by B.L. Dodson and M.D. Mulcahy. Published by Quality Publishing, Inc. (800) 628-0432. Very expensive
Reliability Engineering (1996) by Elsayed A. Elsayed. Addison Wesley. An excellent new addition.

Reliability Data Analysis Books

Statistical Methods for Reliability Data. (1998) William Q. Meeker and Luis A. Escobar. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (The best book on the subject of reliability data analysis.)
Statistical Analysis of Reliability Data. (1991) M. J. Crowder, A. C. Kimber, R. L. Smith, and T. J. Sweeting. Chapman and Hall
Applied Reliability (1986) Paul A. Tobias and David C. Trindade. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. (This is a very readable and practical elementary book. An excellent introduction to the subject.)
"Analysis and Presentation of Reliability Data." J. H. Hooper and S. J. Amster. Chapter 8 in Handbook of Statistical Methods for Engineers and Scientists. (1990) McGraw-Hill. (This is a summary of material taught to device (component) engineers at AT&T Bell Laboratories.)
Statistical Models and Methods for Lifetime Data. ( 1982) J. F. Lawless. Wiley-Interscience. (The classic book on reliability data analysis. It is now somewhat dated but it is still worth reading.)
Analyzing Survival Data from Clinical Trials and Observational Studies. (1995) E. Marubini and M. Grazia Valsecchi. Wiley. (This book is a very clear, up-to-date introduction to regression methods used in life data analysis, such as, the Cox's proportional hazards model.)
Accelerated Testing: Statistical Models, Test Plans, and Data Analyses. (1990) Wayne Nelson. Wiley-Interscience. (Encyclopedic discussion of the different physical models and (practical) statistical methods uses to analyze data from accelerated life tests. Don't fail to consult this reference if you are asked to analyze data from an accelerated life test.)
Statistical Methods for Survival Data Analysis (1980) Elisa T. Lee. Lifetime Learning Publications. Belmont, California. (The emphasis is on the biological sciences. The book has many real data sets and clear explanations of methods. A very nice book.)
Applied Life Data Analysis. (1982) Wayne Nelson. Wiley & Sons. New York. (A classic book with good data sets.)
Survival Analysis: A Practical Approach (1995) Mahesh K. B. Parmar and David Machin. Wiley & Sons (Very clear but the applications are in the biomedical sciences)
Survival Analysis: Techniques for Censored and Truncated Data (1997) John P. Klein and Melvin L. Moeschberger. Springer. New York. (Also very clear but the applications are in the biomedical sciences)

System Reliability Modeling Books

Reliability Evaluation of Engineering Systems: Concepts and Techniques. (1983) R. Billinton, R. N. Allan. Plenum. (Read this book if you want to become familiar with the most common techniques used in system reliability modeling. This book has a very clear introduction to Markov system reliability modeling and to system reliability approximation techniques.)
Repairable System Reliability. (1984). H. Ascher, H. Feingold. Marcell Dekker. (A much quoted book that you should browse some day. In my opinion the material in this book is not very practical but the book has some interesting ideas.)

Reliability Mathematics Books

Point Process Models with Applications to Safety and Reliability. (1988) W. A. Thompson, Jr.. Chapman and Hall. (Read this book if you are interested in the mathematics of counting and point processes in a reliability context.)
Statistical Theory of Reliability and Life Testing: Probability Models. (1975). R. E. Barlow, F. Proschan. HRW. (This book, co-authored by my major professor, is the classic reference on the mathematics of reliability system modeling. It does not cover Markov modeling techniques, so it complements Billington and Allen's book. This is book is only of interest if you want to do research or if you need to understand a particular reliability concept, such as why mixtures of decreasing failure rate distributions are decreasing failure rate.)

Papers Cited in the Course:

"Statistical investigation of the fatigue life of deep grove ball bearings. "Lieblein, K. and Zelen, M. (1956) J. Res. Nt. bur. Stand., 57, 273-361.
"Tables for obtaining confidence bounds and tolerance bounds based on best linear invariant estimates of parameters of the extreme value distribution." Mann, N. R. and Fertig, K. W. (1973) Technometrics, 15, 87-101.
"An examination of statistical theories for fibrous materials in the light of experimental data." Watson, A. S. and Smith, R. L. (1985) J. Mater. Sci., 20, 3260-70
"Iteratively reweighted least squares for maximum likelihood estimation and some robust alternatives (with discussion)." Green, P. J. J.R. Statist. Soc. B 46, 149-92.
"Prediction of long-term failure in Kevlar 49 composites." Gerstle, F. P. and Kunz, S. C. (1983) Long-term Behavior of Composites, ASTM STP 813, (T. K. O'Brien ed), 263-92, Philadelphia.