Hitting probabilities and hitting times for stochastic fluid flows the bounded model

Abstract

We consider a Markovian stochastic fluid flow model in which the fluid level has a lower bound zero and a positive upper bound. The behavior of the process at the boundaries is modeled by parameters that are different than those in the interior and allow for modeling a range of desired behaviors at the boundaries. We illustrate this with examples. We establish formulas for several time-dependent performance measures of significance to a number of applied probability models. These results are achieved with techniques applied within the fluid flow model directly. This leads to useful physical interpretations, which are presented.