A Comparative Framework for Maintenance-Dominated Systems

This work introduces a comparative diagnostic framework for identifying maintenance-dominated operating regimes across infrastructure and exploratory biological systems. The framework operationalizes persistence as the ability of a system to maintain functional throughput while absorbing stabilization burden within a defined operational regime. Four primary diagnostic variables are introduced: burden intensity, coordination friction, replacement cannibalization, and maintenance externalization. These variables are evaluated using publicly available datasets from electric infrastructure (PJM/Dominion and ERCOT), water infrastructure (EPA replacement mandates), and exploratory biological maintenance literature. The results are consistent with a structural transition in which stabilization overhead accelerates faster than functional throughput. The framework does not propose a universal law of persistence, but instead provides a regime-sensitive comparative methodology for identifying maintenance-dominated system behavior across heterogeneous domains.