Developments and Applications of the Finite Markov Chain Imbedding Approach in Reliability

In 1986, Fu proposed the finite Markov chain imbedding approach. Since then, it has played an important role in the analyses of system reliability, such as on reliability computations, importance analyses of components, failure rate function computations, the birth of new reliability system models, and analyses of new reliability tests. We present a survey on the developments and applications of this approach in the reliability field.