Load characterization during transportation

The reliability of a product is a function of the product’s architecture, constituent parts and materials, as well as its life cycle environmental conditions. Of these, determination of the life cycle environment (which includes manufacturing, handling, transportation, and application conditions) is often the most uncertain part in the calculation of reliability. This paper presents a methodology to measure and characterize the dynamic nature of a transportation environment induced by a commercial carrier service on a packaged product. An example is given, and the measured environment is compared with standard industry data. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.