| In today's hyper-competitive marketplace, innovation, flexibility, and shorter time-to-market are essential characteristics for the successful deployment of new products. Concurrent engineering (CE) and integrated product development highlight the current trend among corporations seeking these qualities. To achieve concurrent engineering, an adequate architectural infrastructure must be provided.;The progression of Computer-Aided Engineering tools has been instrumental in the evolution of the engineering process. In recent years, the emergence of Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Prototyping (VP), advanced visualization systems, and human modeling CAD systems have provided an even richer set of tools. However, the effective use of these tools in an integrated, synergistic fashion has not yet been realized.;This research focuses on the design and creation of a virtual prototyping architecture that will assist in performing design and manufacturing tasks in an integrated, human-driven, collaborative, distributed environment.;An object-oriented, device-independent architecture has been created to allow the integration of data and methods between CAD, virtual reality/virtual prototyping, engineering visualization, and human CAD systems. The object-oriented nature of the architecture promotes modularity, extensibility, and reuse of system components. Three candidate architectures were proposed: The Product Development Approach, the CAE Tool Integration Approach, and the User-Session Approach.;The Product Development Approach is strongly influenced by the product development process. The CAE Tool Integration Approach focuses on the individual CAE tools that comprise the larger system. This approach employs the concept of a CAE wrapper. The User-Session Approach focuses on the user and providing flexibility to the user.;The comparison of these philosophical approaches has led to the specification of the Virtual Design and Manufacturing (VDM) architecture. This dissertation describes the design, analysis, and prototype implementation of the VDM architecture. Test cases demonstrate the VDM architecture as a scaleable, multi-platform, distributed, practical solution to address the needs of the next generation CAE systems. Efforts must be focused on the creation of next generation CAE systems which utilize computer power in a more effective, intuitive, and productive manner. |
