A framework for building dimensionless behavioral models to aid in function-based failure propagation analysis

This research builds on previous work on function-based failure analysis and dimensional analysis to develop a design stage failure identification framework. The proposed framework is intended to provide an alternative approach to model the behavior for use in function-based failure analysis proposed in the literature. This paper specifically proposes to develop more detailed behavioral models derived from information available at the configuration level. The new behavioral model uses design variables, which are associated with units and quantities (i.e., mass, length, time, etc...), and generates a graph of interactions for each component to define the quantitative behavior of components. The dimensionless behavioral modeling is applied briefly to the analysis of functional failures and fault propagation at a highly abstract system concept level before any potentially high-cost design commitments are made. The main contributions in this paper include: a method to automatically select the main variables of interest, an automatic causal ordering of the variables based on their units, an automatically generated graph associating the variables, a machinery based on dimensional analysis allowing a quantitative simulation of the graphs, and a methodology to combine subgraphs and create component behavioral models.