A failure propagation methodology for analyzing functional models of extremely large complex systems

Abstract

The identification of risk of potential loss of system functionality within the early stages in designing complex systems is of growing importance for risk sensitive industries. In order to enhance early design and analysis of complex system architectures using design structure matrices, this paper introduces a failure propagation index methodology for analyzing functional architecture concepts for extremely large complex systems. Unlike the classical hazard analysis techniques which become difficult to handle for extremely large complex systems, this work proposes a functional failure propagation indexing method that segments a large complex system and applies failure propagation modulating factors to estimate the criticality of the system’s elements. The propagation index quantifies the relative impact of a functional failure on the overall architecture. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated using a functional model of a multifunctional actuation system architecture concept for the high-lift of a fixed wing aircraft.