Designing degradation experiments using a Weibull distribution

Abstract

This paper deals with the optimal design of a degradation experiment, where the degradation rate follows a Weibull distribution. By minimizing the mean squared error of the estimated 100p^th percentile of the life time distribution such that the total experimental cost does not exceed a certain budget, the optimal combinations of the sample size, the inspection frequency and the termination time are obtained. The proposed method was applied to a real drug potency data.

Subject Classification:

• (2010) 62N05
• 62K05

Keywords:

• 100p^th Percentile
• Decision Variables
• Degradation Experiments
• Mean Squared Error
• Optimal Design
• Reliability
• Weibull Distribution