A Generalized Class of Correlated Run Shock Models

Abstract

In this paper, a generalized class of run shock models associated with a bivariate sequence {(X-i, Y-i)}(i >= 1) of correlated random variables is defined and studied. For a system that is subject to shocks of random magnitudes X-1, X-2, ... over time, let the random variables Y-1, Y-2, ... denote times between arrivals of successive shocks. The lifetime of the system under this class is defined through a compound random variable T = Sigma(N)(t=1) Y-t, where N is a stopping time for the sequence {Xi}(i >= 1) and represents the number of shocks that causes failure of the system. Another random variable of interest is the maximum shock size up to N, i.e. M = max {X-i, 1 <= i <= N}Distributions of T and M are investigated when N has a phase-type distribution.