Kernel-based ANOVA decomposition and Shapley effects -- Application to global sensitivity analysis

Global sensitivity analysis is the main quantitative technique for identifying the most influential input variables in a numerical simulation model. In particular when the inputs are independent, Sobol' sensitivity indices attribute a portion of the output of interest variance to each input and all possible interactions in the model, thanks to a functional ANOVA decomposition. On the other hand, moment-independent sensitivity indices focus on the impact of input variables on the whole output distribution instead of the variance only, thus providing complementary insight on the inputs / output relationship. Unfortunately they do not enjoy the nice decomposition property of Sobol' indices and are consequently harder to analyze. In this paper, we introduce two moment-independent indices based on kernel-embeddings of probability distributions and show that the RKHS framework used for their definition makes it possible to exhibit a kernel-based ANOVA decomposition. This is the first time such a desirable property is proved for sensitivity indices apart from Sobol' ones. When the inputs are dependent, we also use these new sensitivity indices as building blocks to design kernel-embedding Shapley effects which generalize the traditional variance-based ones used in sensitivity analysis. Several estimation procedures are discussed and illustrated on test cases with various output types such as categorical variables and probability distributions. All these examples show their potential for enhancing traditional sensitivity analysis with a kernel point of view.