Goodness-of-fit tests in reliability : Weibull distribution and imperfect maintenance models

This work deals with goodness-of-fit (GOF) tests in reliability for both non repairable and repairable systems. GOF tests are efficient techniques to check the relevance of a model for a given data set. For non repairable systems, the Exponential and Weibull distributions are the most used lifetimes distributions in reliability. A comprehensive comparison study of the GOF tests for the Exponential distribution is presented for complete and censored samples followed by recommendations about the use of the tests. The two-parameter Weibull distribution allows decreasing and increasing failure rates unlike the Exponential distribution that makes the assumption of a constant hazard rate. Yet, there exist less GOF tests in the literature for the Weibull distribution. A comprehensive review of the existing GOF tests is done and two new families of exact GOF tests are introduced. The first family is the likelihood based GOF tests and the second is the family of tests based on the Laplace transform. Theoretical asymptotic properties of some new tests statistics are established. A comprehensive comparison study of the GOF tests for the Weibull distribution is done. Recommendations about the most powerful tests are given depending on the characteristics of the tested data sets. For repairable systems, new GOF tests are developed for imperfect maintenance models when both corrective maintenance and deterministic preventive maintenance are performed. These tests are exact and can be applied to small data sets. Finally, illustrative applications to real data sets from industry are carried out for repairable and non repairable systems.