FAILURE MODE EFFECTS ANALYSIS: A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF FUNCTIONAL MODELING

Abstract

Knowledge of how a device works is important for many tasks. Yet, systems that attempt to base their reasoning on the use of a functional model fail to capture such knowledge or only capture it implicitly. Instead they rely solely on the knowledge of the purpose of the system and provide causal explanations of how this purpose is achieved. This type of model only represents knowledge of what the system is for, not how the system works. However, engineers also rely on knowledge of how a device works to complete tasks successfully. One such task is failure mode effects analysis (FMEA). FMEA involves investigation and assessment of the effects of all possible failure modes on a system. This process is both tedious and time consuming, and it requires detailed expert knowledge of the system under consideration, including information about the structure of the system and its purpose or function. This means that any attempt to automate the whole of the FMEA process must involve both the structural and functional levels. This paper reviews the FMEA process and considers the requirements of an automated FMEA system. It outlines a prototype FMEA system and presents a functional modeling system that relies on the results produced by an underlying structural simulator.