Developing Subsystem Matrices in Structural Modeling

A major requirement for structural modeling is that the necessary data be acquired and organized into a form from which a structural model can be developed. A reachability matrix is one such form. It is very useful when the contextual relation being modeled is transitive and multilevel. A significant step in the development of a reachability matrix consists of the ordering of elements of the system in such a way that much of the data required can be computed from supplied data, using the transitivity condition. The process described for orderimg the element set suffices to define a set of subsystems and reduces the problem of developing a reachability matrix to one of developing a set of its component interconnection matrices that join these subsystems. The process described assigns much of the burden of structural modeling to the computer, leaving to the developer the tasks requiring substantive knowledge of the system being modeled.