On the Representation of Life-Support System Models

A canonical decomposition of models describing physical-chemical-biological systems is described which is based on Newtonian physics and axiomatic thermodynamics. The resulting hierarchical representation of complex models prepares for an object oriented modelling support tool which will readily interface to knowledge-based tools. It also approaches the documentation problem for large systems and has the structure that allows multiple user interfaces to be implemented each of which is specific for a certain group of researchers in the interdisciplinary team.