Relational modeling of chemical processes for control logic verification

Abstract

Abstract The area of formal methods offers improved fault detection for hybrid processes, such as chemical ones. Verification of a chemical process requires the construction of a finite state representation from the phenomena exhibited by the control system, physical process, operating procedures, and human behavior. The exhibited phenomena are modeled as a set of states, the transitions between these states, and their triggering events. In particular, the states and transitions are based upon landmarks and their relative position while the triggering events are based upon the actions in the system. This methology capitalizes on the importance of relational properties instead of absolute ones in verifying a chemical process. The proposed methodology was applied to two industrial examples: a leak test procedure and a thermal oxidation process.