Definition and Implementation of a Method for Uncertainty Aggregation in Component-Based System Simulation Models

Abstract

Component-based system simulation models are used throughout all development phases for design and verification of both physical systems and control software, not least in the aeronautical industry. However, the application of structured methods for uncertainty quantification (UQ) of system simulation models is rarely seen. To enable dimensionality reduction of a UQ problem and to thereby make UQ more feasible for industry-grade system simulation models, this paper describes a pragmatic method for uncertainty aggregation. The central idea of the proposed aggregation method is to integrate information obtained during common practice component-level validation directly into the components, and to utilize this information in model-level UQ. A generic component output uncertainty description has been defined and implemented in a Modelica library for modeling and simulation (M&S) of aircraft vehicle systems. An example is provided on how to characterize and quantify a component's aggregated output uncertainty based on the component-level bench test measurement data. Furthermore, the industrial applicability of the uncertainty aggregation method is demonstrated in an approximate UQ of an aircraft liquid cooling system simulation model. For cases when the concept of thorough UQ resulting in probability boxes is not feasible, the demonstrated approximate UQ using aggregated uncertainties is considered to be a pragmatic alternative fairly in reach for the common M&S practitioner within the area of system simulation.