Reliability Analysis of Electronic Equipment Subjected to Shock and Vibration – A Review

Abstract

Increasingly modern electronic equipment is expected to provide more functionality whilst still being able to withstand shock and vibration loads. The process of reliability prediction has been hampered by the complicated response and failure characteristics of electronic equipment, with the currently available methods being a compromise between accuracy and cost. A process to quickly and confidently predict the reliability of proposed electronic equipment to dynamic loads would greatly benefit industry.This paper will illustrate the difficulties in predicting electronic equipment reliability, showing why progress has been slow, in addition to the difficulty in making a model that works across a broad range of equipment configurations. The four classes of reliability prediction methods (Handbook, Test data, Field data and Physics of Failure) will be contrasted before addressing the individual methods.It is pertinent to note that although the majority of failures in electronic equipment are due to thermal issues, this review focuses on shock and vibration induced failures.