Advances in the statistical theory of comparison of lifetimes of machines under the generalized weibull distribution

Some new censoring schemes for comparing lifetimes of machines were introduced in Srivastava (1987), wherein it was shown that in general, these improve on the accuracy and also reduce the total expected time under experiment as well as the expected length of the experiment. Although the above studies were initiated under the generalized WeibuU distribution, the detailed development of the theory for the expected time or length were made under the Weibull only. In this paper, for a certain important special case, this development is extended to the generalized Weibull. Also, an error in the above paper is pointed out, and corrected, showing that the new schemes are actually superior to what they appeared to be there. Furthermore, under a realistic cost function, the problem of planning such experiments is discussed. An example for machines with a series connection is provided.