A qualitative circuit simulator

The work described here is part of a larger project which is investigating various issues related to diagnosis and failure prediction in the context of automotive manufacturing. In particular, the goal is to produce prototype intelligent tools which will assist in the analysis of potential faults and hazard situations in evolving electrical circuit designs. The paper reports on the design and implementation of a qualitative electrical circuit simulator that can effectively model the structure and behaviour of systems under analysis. The simulator assigns labels to open and short circuit branches, finds current paths and determines directions of flow