The modified exponentiated-Weibull distribution for life-time modeling

The so-called "exponentiated Weibull distribution" has been offered as a simple generalization of the Weibull distribution. It is well suited for modeling bathtub failure rate lifetime data. A modified version of this distribution is presented to meet the problem of bandlimited input data on failure times. This is seen to yield a more pessimistic MTBF value which is more realistic in case of lack of information. The use of the new distribution for lifetime modeling of a bathtub type distribution is demonstrated using experimental data. A closed form series expansion is also supplied to exhibit the dependence of the MTBF upon the parameters of the distribution. This is shown to yield an upper bound on the value of the MTBF. In some cases it may serve as an efficient approximation for its evaluation.