Summary & Conclusions
An innovative approach has been developed to objectively and systematically identify failure causes of a product in real time, using a reliability physics methodology. It is intended to overcome problems associated with traditional design FMEAs, which can be inefficient in aiding the design process in a timely fashion. The approach is based on the premise that, at the most fundamental level, failure causes are a result of a manageable number of predictable processes. These processes result when combinations of material type, stress and conditions occur. A knowledge base forms the basis for this methodology and is in the form of a multidimensional matrix that relates element type, stresses, conditions, processes, resulting stresses, resulting conditions, and failure modes.