1. Introduction to Reliability Design of Mechanical/Civil System

This chapter will be discussed with the necessities of new reliability methodology such as parametric accelerated life testing (ALT) in the established product developing process. By adopting new technologies of product in compliance with customer needs from marketplace, mechanical engineer tries to design new structure and mechanism embodied with the sophisticated features. By doing so, the modern mechanical products might survive in global competition. They are often required to have higher performance and reliability for the necessary intended functions, although the product cost and developing time reduce gradually. Mechanical products therefore have faulty designs in the structure configuration. Repeated loads or overloading in the product cause structural damage and finally reduce its lifetime. A failure of products with rare possibility might suddenly arise in field. Because new product has faulty designs in the speedy development time, there is the presence of risks on product recalls at all times. The design process of company requires new assessment methodology of reliability in lifetime. It includes discovering the design defects, correcting them, and checking if the lifetime target of product is achieved.