A general methodology for determining distributional forms with applications in reliability (Q1090046)

Many distributions have been used as models for the distribution of failure times. This paper considers two distributions which include nearly all of these models as special or limiting cases. Expressions are reported which facilitate parameter estimation and the analysis of associated means, variances and other distributional characteristics. The distributions considered have been fitted to several data sets and the relative performance of the various models for some of these data sets is compared.