Design for Maintainability with Modified Petri Nets (MPNs): Shipboard Propulsion System Application.

Abstract

Maintenance of complex systems such as ship propulsion/gas turbine plants poses serious human factors problems for the maintainers. Gas turbine plants typically require a team of maintainers to work with each other on different aspects of a common problem. This paper presents a model-based approach for identifying problem areas resulting from excessive workloads, and inadequate handling of contingency situations from a maintainability viewpoint. This approach relies on modelling human behavior (i.e., actions, decisions, responses to specific events) within this framework, it is possible to (a) identify procedural inconsistencies and ambiguities that may impair human performance; (b) explicitly model contingency handling procedures; (c) computer instantaneous and sustained task-related workload; and (d) develop guidelines for determining where aiding, automation or task reallocation may be warranted. The approach along with illustrative examples is presented within the context of a selected problem area associated with the maintainability of gas turbine propulsion systems. Keywords include: Task analysis, Modified petri nets, Design for maintainability, Knowledge representation, Performance evaluation, Man-machine interface, Propulsion systems maintenance, and Workload assessment methods.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA151302

Entities

People

  • A. M. Madni
  • D. Purcell
  • M. A. Brenner
  • Y. Y. Chu

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Computer Science
  • Control Systems
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Protection
  • Human Behavior
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Human-Machine Interfaces
  • Human-Machine Systems
  • Maintenance
  • Parallel Computing
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Pressure Gages
  • Propulsion Systems
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Economics
  • Software Engineering.