ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the analysis of reliability data using the proportional hazards model. Since Cox's pioneering paper on the subject, the vast majority of reported uses of proportional hazards methods have been for the analysis of survival data in the medical field. The semiparametric hazards-based approach however is beginning to have more of an impact in the reliability field, and is likely to play a more prominent role in the future, since no assumptions regarding the form of the baseline hazard function are necessary for the analysis. Much of the practical reliability literature in this area is contained in internal reports or conference proceedings; Wightman and Bendell provide a number of such references which include applications to marine gas turbines, motorettes, nuclear reactors, aircraft engines and brake discs on high-speed trains. The chapter concludes with the comment that predictions at high levels of reliability, such as those obtained above must be used with extreme caution.
