Information interoperation for Internet-based component engineering analysis

Design and engineering professionals need Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Engineering (CAD/CAE), and design and engineering analysis software applications to interoperate in order to effectively share project information. Typically the knowledge representations and algorithms in such applications are distinct and incompatible with one another. Initiatives to define standard product models are intended to address this problem and enable effective information exchange given commitment by software vendors to interface their applications with such models. To date, product modeling has focused on large, complex data models. The implementation of these models is open to interpretation, which leads to problems of semantic ambiguity, and incomplete and inaccurate information that inhibits effective information exchange. Based upon my work with AEC product models and the arguments of researchers in the field of database integration, my thesis research conjectures that AEC product models will develop as small and simple models that are integrated by software services that I call Integration Services. These services perform information integration functions, for example database management operations for models that are distributed on separate Internet nodes and are created/edited by different engineering applications.; My research defines, demonstrates and testes integration services that automatically customize product model information for component analysis applications given knowledge of product model structure. These services address the semantic interoperation problem for engineering analysis of components that are installed in process plant facilities. The customization services enable data extraction through formalizations i.e., templates that represent engineering function and the input conditions of component analysis, and methods that support external query of product models, monitor incomplete information resulting from query, and validate query results with respect to the input conditions.; Based on consistent demonstration of the customization services for valve sizing and diagnosis, and the fact that these two demonstration test cases represent markedly different engineering processes, I claim that the customization services have power and generality, and that they contribute to the literature of AEC information exchange.