What is the open-circuit voltage as the switch opens? If you are switching an inductive load, then the open circuit voltage rating might need to be tens-of-thousands V; if load is purely resistive, then any solid-state switch like a NPN or NFET transistor will likely work. The Off-state leakage of an NFET is only a uA or so, reasonably close to an "open"...
My lecturer at college used to put clear sellotape on glass fuses in tellys, so they looked ok and metered ok from the ends, but they were in effect 'open'.
This what you mean?
when i was at calibration school, one of the instructors had equipment that had DIP switches wired to various components in the equipment for troubleshooting practice..... the instructor could short some components and open others... i had a few words with him, because, except for some extremely rare instances (like a serious meltdown of a wirewound resistor, or internal arcing of a carbon comp) nobody will ever be looking for a shorted resistor.....
when i was at calibration school, one of the instructors had equipment that had DIP switches wired to various components in the equipment for troubleshooting practice..... the instructor could short some components and open others... i had a few words with him, because, except for some extremely rare instances (like a serious meltdown of a wirewound resistor, or internal arcing of a carbon comp) nobody will ever be looking for a shorted resistor.....
It's true that a repair tech will seldom (never?) encounter a resistor that has failed short. In a production environment, where newly fabricated boards are being tested, solder bridges are not uncommon.
LT4363. This detects an over voltage/under voltage or over current and switches off a high side NFET. This sounds like what you want to do. Or the LT4366. Just a thought...
get some DIP switches or a double row header (such as an IDE connector on an old hard drive) and some jumper plugs. wire the switches or header pins to the components you want to "fail" wire a pair of pins or switch contacts across components you want to simulate a short on, or cut a circuit board trace and wire the switch or header pins across the break for simulating open circuit failures. for some real-world failure scenarios, you could cut a trace going to an electrolytic, and put a 47-100 ohm resistor across the break, and wire a switch across the break as well. this would simulate a cap with high ESR. get creatice, but remember to simulate real world faults. the likelihood anybody will ever see a shorted resistor is extremely slim. be careful when simulating some failures. if the failure lets the magic smoke out of a transistor, yes it will simulate a real fault, but will also cause other failures that you didn't intend....