Cable routing modeling in early system design to prevent cable failure propagation events

In the early engineering design phases of complex systems and facilities with significant cable routing requirements, the protection of critical cabling infrastructure and separation of redundant cables is often not taken into account. Cable routing and management happens later in the design process after significant system architectural decisions have been made. Given the nature of cables where energy and signal functions are shared between major subsystems, the potential for failure propagation is significant. We propose the Cable Routing Function Failure Analysis (CRFFA) method of cable routing planning that integrates with functional modeling and function failure analysis of complex systems to be used during the early conceptual stages of design. Through a more complete understanding of power and data cabling requirements during the early phases of design, a system design can be developed that minimizes the potential for critical cable infrastructure to be collocated. Reductions in collocated critical cabling reduce potential failure propagation pathways. The method in this paper relies on functional failure propagation probability calculation methods to identify and avoid potentially high risk cable routing choices. The implementation of this method will help engineering practitioners to design complex systems and facilities that protect against cabling failure propagation events (cable raceway fires, cable bundle severing events, etc.) from the earliest phases of design. Thus, system reliability will increase while system failure probabilities, cost of system design, and design lifecycles will decrease.