Bayesian estimation of unavailability

Abstract This paper gives two Bayesian methods for estimating test-and-maintenance unavailability. Both unplanned and periodic maintenance are considered. One estimation method uses ‘detailed data,’ the individual outage times. The other method uses ‘summary data,’ totals of outage time and exposure time in various time periods such as calendar months. Either method can use either a noninformative or an informative prior distribution. Both methods are illustrated with an example data set, and the results are compared.