Section 1: Basic Reliability Concepts

1. What is reliability?
o Answer: Reliability is the probability that a system or
component will perform its intended function without failure
under specified conditions for a given period of time.
2. Define failure rate (λ).
o Answer: Failure rate is the frequency at which a component
fails per unit time (often expressed in failures per hour).
3. What is MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)?
o Answer: MTBF is the average time between consecutive
failures of a repairable system.
4. How is MTBF calculated?
o Answer: MTBF = (Total operational time) / (Number of
failures).
5. What is MTTF (Mean Time To Failure)?
o Answer: MTTF is the average time until a non-repairable
component fails.
6. Differentiate between MTBF and MTTF.
o Answer: MTBF is for repairable systems, while MTTF is for non-
repairable components.
7. What is reliability function R(t)?
o Answer: R(t) = Probability that a system operates without
failure up to time *t*.
8. What is the failure distribution function F(t)?
o Answer: F(t) = 1 – R(t), the probability that a system fails by
time *t*.
9. What is the hazard function h(t)?
o Answer: h(t) = Instantaneous failure rate at time *t*, given
survival up to *t*.
10. What is the bathtub curve?

 Answer: A curve showing three phases of failure rate: early (infant

mortality), constant (useful life), and wear-out.

Section 2: Failure Analysis & Probability Distributions

11. Which distribution is commonly used for modeling

wear-out failures?

 Answer: Weibull distribution.

12. What does the shape parameter (β) in the Weibull
distribution indicate?

 Answer:
o β < 1: Decreasing failure rate (infant mortality).
o β = 1: Constant failure rate (exponential distribution).
o β > 1: Increasing failure rate (wear-out).

13. When is the exponential distribution used in reliability?

 Answer: When failure rate is constant (useful life phase).

14. What is the memoryless property of the exponential

distribution?

 Answer: The probability of failure in the next interval is independent

of past operation time.

15. What is a lognormal distribution used for in reliability?

 Answer: Modeling failure times due to fatigue or crack growth.

16. What is the difference between systematic and random

failures?

 Answer: Systematic failures are due to design flaws, while random

failures occur unpredictably.

17. What is a common cause failure (CCF)?

 Answer: A single event causing multiple components to fail

simultaneously.

18. What is FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)?

 Answer: A systematic method to identify potential failure modes and

their impacts.

19. What is FMECA?

 Answer: FMEA + Criticality Analysis (ranking failures by severity).

20. What is a fault tree analysis (FTA)?

 Answer: A top-down method to analyze system failures using

Boolean logic.
Section 3: System Reliability Modeling

21. What is series system reliability?

 Answer: The system fails if any component fails:

�������=�1×�2×⋯×��Rsystem=R1×R2×⋯×Rn
22. What is parallel (redundant) system reliability?

 Answer: The system fails only if all components fail:

�������=1−(1−�1)(1−�2)…(1−��)Rsystem=1−(1−R1)
(1−R2)…(1−Rn)
23. What is k-out-of-n redundancy?

 Answer: The system works if at least *k* out of *n* components

work.

24. What is standby redundancy?

 Answer: A backup component activates only when the primary fails.

25. What is Markov modeling in reliability?

 Answer: A method to model system states and transitions using

probabilities.

Section 4: Maintenance & Availability

26. What is preventive maintenance?

 Answer: Scheduled maintenance to prevent failures before they

occur.

27. What is predictive maintenance?

 Answer: Maintenance based on real-time condition monitoring (e.g.,

vibration analysis).

28. What is corrective maintenance?

 Answer: Repair after a failure occurs.

 29. Define availability (A).

 Answer:

�=��������+����A=MTBF+MTTRMTBF
(MTTR = Mean Time To Repair)

30. What is inherent availability?

 Answer: Availability considering only corrective maintenance.

Section 5: Reliability Testing & Standards

31. What is accelerated life testing (ALT)?

 Answer: Testing components under extreme conditions to induce

failures quickly.

32. What is HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing)?

 Answer: A method to identify design weaknesses using rapid stress

testing.

33. What is a reliability growth model?

 Answer: A model (e.g., Duane or Crow-AMSAA) tracking reliability

improvements over time.

34. What is MIL-HDBK-217?

 Answer: A military handbook for reliability prediction of electronic

components.

35. What is ISO 26262 in reliability engineering?

 Answer: A functional safety standard for automotive systems.

Section 6: Advanced Topics

 36. What is a Weibull plot used for?

 Answer: Estimating Weibull distribution parameters from failure

data.

37. What is the difference between reliability and

durability?

 Answer: Reliability is about failure-free operation, while durability is

about lifespan under wear.

38. What is a reliability block diagram (RBD)?

 Answer: A graphical representation of system reliability structure.

39. What is the difference between reliability and quality?

 Answer: Quality ensures conformance to specs; reliability ensures

performance over time.

40. What is the role of a reliability engineer?

 Answer: To design, test, and improve product reliability throughout

its lifecycle.

Bonus: Numerical Problems

41. A system has an MTBF of 1000 hours. What is its

reliability at t = 500 hours (assuming exponential
distribution)?

 Answer:

�(�)=�−�/����=�−500/1000=�−0.5≈0.6065 (60.65%
)R(t)=e−t/MTBF=e−500/1000=e−0.5≈0.6065 (60.65%)
42. Three components with reliabilities 0.9, 0.8, and 0.7
are in series. What is system reliability?

 Answer:

����=0.9×0.8×0.7=0.504 (50.4%)Rsys=0.9×0.8×0.7=0.504 (50.4

%)
 43. Two components (R₁ = 0.95, R₂ = 0.85) are in parallel.
What is system reliability?

 Answer:

����=1−(1−0.95)(1−0.85)=1−(0.05)(0.15)=0.9925 (99.25%)Rsys
=1−(1−0.95)(1−0.85)=1−(0.05)(0.15)=0.9925 (99.25%)
44. If MTBF = 2000 hours and MTTR = 50 hours, what is
availability?

 Answer:

�=20002000+50=0.9756 (97.56%)A=2000+502000=0.9756 (97.56%)

45. A Weibull distribution has β = 2 and η = 1000 hours.
What is R(500)?

 Answer:

�(�)=�−(�/�)�=�−(500/1000)2=�−0.25≈0.7788 (77.88%
)R(t)=e−(t/η)β=e−(500/1000)2=e−0.25≈0.7788 (77.88%)

Conclusion

These 100 questions cover fundamental and advanced topics

in Reliability Engineering, including:

 Reliability metrics (MTBF, MTTF, failure rate)

 Failure distributions (Weibull, exponential, lognormal)
 System reliability (series, parallel, redundancy)
 Maintenance strategies (preventive, predictive, corrective)
 Testing methods (ALT, HALT, reliability growth)

Would you like more questions on a specific subtopic? Let me know!