RELIABILITY ENGINEERING - A BASIC COMPONENT IN AN UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM

This paper presents the basic function of reliability engineering in system design and illustrates how these considerations could be incorporated in a basic undergraduate engineering curriculum. The general concepts associated with system design should be incorporated as part of the design sequence and considered simply as one aspect of good engineering. The specialized skills associated with quantitative analysis can be introduced as a one term undergraduate course which is not discipline specific. The emphasis in actual system analysis can be made for any specific discipline in order to provide more appeal for the students taking the course. The concepts, however, are universal and generally applicable to all aspects of engineering. The emphasis should be on the utilization of mathematical concepts for synthesis and analysis of engineering systems. The output of the reliability study should provide useful input to the decision-making process involving engineering economics and environmental considerations.