STRUCTURAL MINIMALITY AND MODELLING OF SYSTEMS

Abstract The notion of Structural Minimality of a composite system is introduced. Informally, a composite system is nonminimal if, being formed of controllable and observable subsystems, it is uncontrollable and/or unobservable. Using Bond-graphs and the causal stroke assignment algorithm, a criterium to detect structural minimality is presented. The notion is applied to concrete examples, in particular to the choice of a cardiac fiber model to be used in a ventricle model for simulation purposes.