Introduction to structural ageing-specific functions for computational models based on synaptic networks

Individual computational models for various forms of ageing exist, but are neither sufficiently versatile to be directly implementable into complex systems design, nor adaptable to different scenarios of ageing. To address this problem, this work proposes a method to build up models of complex systems, also incorporating ageing, based on a limited number of nominal-operation-related and ageing-specific function primitives, which account collectively for the entire system behaviour. By implementing these functions in synaptic networks, the model enables flexible changes, enrichment, computational effort savings and design-optimization potential. A case study is presented, showing how this method is applied to a helicopter gearbox.