This paper provides an approach for health monitoring
through an early detection of failure modes premises. It is a
physics-based model approach that captures the knowledge
of the system and its degradations. The component under
study is the pumping unit such as those found in aircraft
engines fuel systems. First, a complete component analysis
is performed to determine its potential degradation and a
physics-based relevant component health indicator (CHI) is
defined. Then, degradations are modelled and their impacts
on the CHI are quantified using an AMESim® physics-based
model. Assuming that in-flight measures are available, a
model updating is performed and a healthy distribution of
the CHI is computed. Eventually, a fault detection algorithm
is developed and statistical validation is performed through
the computation of key performance indicators (KPI). In
parallel, a degradation severity indicator (DSI) is defined
and prognostic is performed based on the monitoring of this
DSI.