The Development of Generic Failure Analysis Expert System Based on Case-Based Reasoning

Failure analysis is a complex task, requiring considerable knowledge and skill, some of which might be outside the experience of the engineer concerned. To help the engineer, a case-based reasoning tool (Failure Analysis Diagnostic Expert System) is being developed, using a systemic approach to failure diagnostic problems, which not only interactively identifies the failure modes and the critical factors in the design, processing, and end use which cause failures to originate but also suggests methods to improve the reliability of the products. This approach applies a Windows artificial intelligent case-based reasoning technique to generic failure diagnostic problems. Currently, the research is based around the elicitation of failure analysis knowledge and the structuring and planning of this knowledge so that the expert system behaves in an intelligent and responsive manner. Many problems have arisen, such as understanding what information is required to identify the failure mode and in designing a consistent and economical set of questions that are integrated into an efficient questioning strategy. For the behavior of the system to be intelligent and responsive, research into interface design and the understanding of human cognitive models for failure analysis decision-making is proposed. The development of structured models will show which factorsmore » are critical in a given situation and aid failure analysis diagnosis.« less