Relative Ageing for Two Parallel Systems and Related Problems

Kalashnikov and Rachev [1] have proposed a partial ordering of two life distributions which is equivalent to an increasing hazard (failure rate) ratio, when the ratio exists. The phenomenon of crossing hazards has received considerable attention in recent years. Recently, Sengupta and Deshpande [2] have studied this and two other models of relative ageing. In this paper, we consider the relative ageing properties of two parallel systems with identical but different number of components. We also compare the variances of the two life distributions having the same mean but with increasing hazard ratio. Several examples are given to illustrate the results. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.