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bathtub curve
(redirected from Bathtub effect)

    Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
bathtub curve [′bath‚təb ‚kərv]
(industrial engineering)
An equipment failure-rate curve with an initial sharply declining failure rate, followed by a prolonged constant-average failure rate, after which the failure rate again increases sharply.
bathtub curve - Common term for the curve (resembling an end-to-end section of one of those claw-footed antique bathtubs) that describes the expected failure rate of electronics with time: initially high, dropping to near 0 for most of the system's lifetime, then rising again as it "tires out". See also burn-in period, infant mortality.


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