Functional modeling of complex systems with applications

This paper describes the use of a functional modeling approach called goal tree-success tree (GTST) and master logic diagram (MLD) as frameworks for modeling complex physical systems. A function-based lexicon for classifying the most common elements of engineering systems is proposed. This classification is based on the conservation laws that govern the engineering systems. It is argued that functional descriptions based on conservation laws provide a simple and rich vocabulary for modeling complex engineering systems. Several examples of using the GTST-MLD framework in reliability and risk analysis and a tool for automating the analysis have been presented.