A Digraph Approach to System Wear Evaluation and Analysis

Abstract

System structure is important for analyzing wear of a system. In this paper, this aspect is considered at the component level and is modeled using digraph and matrix methods. Contributing wear factors and the degree of influence among these factors, which determine wear independence and wear process between mating components, are identified. This along with the wear measure of subsystems determines the system wear. The procedure develops wear functions for characterization and comparison of subsystems of different types. These are also useful for wear analysis and evaluation leading to an optimum selection of subsystems based on the wear. The procedure is also shown to be useful at the operating state of a system and subsystems. Step-by-step procedure for system wear evaluation is presented. Methodology is also demonstrated by an example.