Degradation-Based Design for Disassembly Assessment Using Network Centrality Metrics

Assemblies in their life span need repairs, updates, or dismantling at End-of-Use, and accessing critical components during the disassembly process is essential to remanufacturing efficacy. Design for Disassembly (DfD) methods seek to increase component accessibility and disassembly efficiency by improving the design structure. Methods such as directed networks and AND/OR graphs map component disassembly relationships using nodes and edges. During use life, assembly component accessibility may change due to wear which, consequently, changes component disassembly relationships. This paper explores graph theory and social network measures to predict changes in disassembly relationships during use phase in the design phase. Centrality measures are employed to study the key parallels, disparities, and opportunities to characterize changes in component disassembly relationships due to component degradation. As an initial study on a CAD assembly, the Betweenness and Degree of Centrality metrics demonstrated measurable impact of component wear on disassembly relationships.