THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Ying Wang

,

Yongfei Guo

STATISTICAL INFERENCE FOR A COPULA-BASED SIMPLE STEP-STRESS ACCELERATED LIFE MODEL

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we undertake a statistical analysis of a simple step-stress accelerated competing failure model. The prevailing hypothesis posits that the competing failure modes are mutually independent. However, empirical evidence suggests that failures tend to be dependent in practice. Consequently, we hypothesize that the failure mechanisms are interconnected. The dependence structure examined in this article is constructed by Gumbel-Hougard Copula and Clayton Copula, and different construction methods are compared. The estimation of unknown parameters is achieved through the maximum likelihood estimation method. The precision of these estimates is subsequently evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that: The Copula theory plays a monumental role in the study of the correlation of competitive failure mechanisms. In this regard, the Gumbel-Hougard Copula demonstrates superior performance in comparison to the Bivariate Clayton Copula within the same framework. Finally, the methods of inference discussed are illustrated with a real dataset.
KEYWORDS
bivariate clayton copula, competing risk, Gumbel-Hougard Copula, step-stress accelerated life test
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2024-12-11
PAPER REVISED: 2025-04-14
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-04-15
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-04-12
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI2602951W
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2026, VOLUME 30, ISSUE No. 2, PAGES [951 - 960]
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Statistical inference for a Copula-based simple step-stress accelerated life model

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence