Model-based Systems Engineering for Design, Management, and Governance of Protective Systems
Abstract
The failure of protective systems can be catastrophic, and has its origin in management. Yet, most engineering works regarding protective systems focus on their physical components. Historically, protective systems have relied on a document-based approach, which implies handling several disjointed artifacts that are expensive to maintain and have a high potential for inconsistency and obsolescence.
We present a framework that embeds management and governance in protective systems and harmonizes regulations, theories, and inconsistent industry guidelines. It pioneers the modeling of protective systems according to the tenors of model-based systems engineering (MBSE), which significantly reduces the pitfalls of its document-based counterpart. It provides a realistic approach to manage multiple aspects of change, and offers traceability, simulation, and visualization capabilities.
First, we sketched a conceptual model that encompasses the physical components, management system, policy, laws and regulation, stakeholders and lifecycle, and stresses the importance of understanding the interactions among elements and their dynamic nature. Then, we used it as a baseline to develop the structure and behavior of our computerized model in SysML.
Our MBSE framework advances the state of the art in safety-critical protective systems by integrating management and governance, and offering further capabilities inherent to the MBSE approach. It is suitable for combined design, operation, and regulation; it reduces the cost of maintenance of its artifacts; and it offers tools for simulation, impact analysis, and management of change. It supports shared governance and mitigates information asymmetry.
Potential users include both enterprises and regulators from the chemical process safety industry and the energy sector, and any other agents invested in the design and management of protective systems.
The model of protective systems developed in this research conforms to the standards issued by the Object Management Group (OMG) and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). We believe that it may constitute a beginning point in the development of more sophisticated standards and both prescriptive and performance-based regulation for protective systems, intended to prevent catastrophic failures. It may also help regulators to synthesize and disseminate information, as they serve as an interface and mediator between companies and the general public.
Subject
protective systemsMBSE
model-based systems engineering
MOC
SysML
design
management
governance
protection layers
layers of protection
process safety
process safety management system
physical components
management system
policy
laws and regulation
stakeholders
lifecycle
safety
information asymmetry
catastrophe
systems engineering
management of change
impact analysis
Citation
Gallart Hamilton, Diana (2017). Model-based Systems Engineering for Design, Management, and Governance of Protective Systems. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /161317.
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