Analytical Diagram Control Panel

The control panel associated with BlockSim analytical diagrams and fault trees consists of multiple pages, each containing options for performing particular tasks. This topic focuses on the Analytical page and Analysis Settings page of the analytical diagram and fault tree control panels, which contain most of the tools you will need to analyze a diagram or fault tree. For more information about the control panel in general, see Control Panels.

Control Panel Analytical Page

The Analytical page of the control panel for analytical diagrams and fault trees contains the following options:

The Analytical area displays the status and results of the analysis.

- Status If the light is green, then the diagram has been analyzed. If the light is red, then the diagram has not been analyzed. An analyzed diagram will remain in the analyzed state unless a change is made to the diagram (e.g., a block is added, a connector is removed, a model is changed, etc.).
- Show Algebraic Solution (...) displays the algebraic solution for the diagram in the Equation Viewer.
- Distribution fit displays the distribution that has been fitted to the analytical results. Click the button (...) to open the Distribution Estimator to fit a distribution and/or for information on the fitted distribution parameters. The fitted distribution can be used to describe the overall behavior of the system and can be published for use as a model elsewhere in the project.
- Show Results if selected, results at the event or gate level will be displayed at the upper right of each block in the diagram. This option is available only for fault trees. Select to display the results as reliability or unreliability values and specify the time at which the results should be calculated. The units for the time are the default units, as specified in the Units window.

Click the Update icon to update the results shown in the diagram without reanalyzing the diagram.

You can click the Spreadsheet View icon to view the results for all gates and events in a spreadsheet-style report in the Results window.

The Information area displays information about the diagram or the currently selected block. If no block is selected in the diagram, the Information area displays the number of blocks in the diagram and information about the diagram creation and last modification; in addition, if the diagram results have been published as a model, the name of the model will appear as a link allowing you to view the model in the Synthesis Viewer window. If a block is selected in the diagram, it displays a subset of the properties found in the Block Properties window. Items in the table that are resources (e.g., models, switches, etc.) are links; you can click such items to view and/or edit their properties. In both cases, this area also offers a Comments field; click the field heading to enter comments. For blocks, these comments are also accessible in the Identifiers properties in the Block Properties window.
The Tools area gives you quick access to the tools you will need to analyze the diagram and generate additional results.

Analyze analyzes the relationships of the components in the diagram and puts the reliability-wise configuration into a mathematical formula.

Plot creates a plot based on the analysis results. Clicking the Plot icon before the diagram has been analyzed will automatically perform the analysis and then plot the data.

QCP opens the analytical Quick Calculation Pad (QCP). The QCP allows you to obtain reliability results based on the algebraic solution for the currently active diagram. Clicking the QCP icon before the diagram has been analyzed will automatically perform the analysis and then open the QCP.

Change Diagram Type changes the current diagram to the opposite diagram type (i.e., changes the current analytical diagram to a simulation diagram, or the current simulation diagram to an analytical diagram). The settings used in the change will be the ones you specified the last time you used the Change Diagram Type window (Diagram > Diagram Actions > Change Diagram Type). In this window, you have the following options:

- Select Duplicate using the new type to create a new diagram using the new type. The new diagram will be named "Copy of [original diagram name]." If you do not select this option, the original diagram itself will be changed to the new type.
- Select Perform the same change to any subdiagrams to change any subdiagrams to the new diagram type. Note that if you select both this and Duplicate using the new type, new subdiagrams will be created along with the new main diagram.

Note that if you create an analytical diagram from a simulation diagram, by either duplication or conversion, the maintenance and throughput characteristics defined in the simulation diagram will not be displayed in the analytical diagram, as they are not relevant to the analysis. However, the properties are not lost, and if you then create a simulation diagram from that analytical diagram, all original properties will be retained.

Control Panel Analysis Settings Page

The Analysis Settings page of the control panel for analytical diagrams and fault trees contains the following options:

Use IBS: if selected, the software looks for blocks with identical failure characteristics and attempts to simplify the equation, if possible, when analyzing the diagram (i.e., identical block simplification). This is useful when analyzing large diagrams that contain a lot of the same blocks. However, using this option means that more types of changes to the diagram will invalidate the mathematical equation that describes the reliability-wise configuration of the diagram and will require that the diagram be reanalyzed. If you select or clear this check box after you have already analyzed the diagram, you will have to reanalyze it.
Report Settings: Report folio model allows you to specify the results model that will be used when the diagram is used as the default data source for an analysis workbook or a Word report. You can choose to use either the analytical results or the fitted model.