A software architecture for the development and implementation of intelligent client applications in design and manufacture

The modeling power of most mechanical CAD systems is limited to the creation and manipulation of topologically correct solids. Due to the lack of consideration for conceptual modeling, certain knowledge associated with a part design is either not captured, or its representation is incomplete. This inhibits the automation of subsequent analysis applications such as process planning. Furthermore, the software architectures of these CAD systems are designed primarily to serve the role of computer aided drafting. Consequently, these design environments fail to participate in the actual design process associated with mechanical part design.;The research within this thesis describes an effort in designing and implementing a productive software development environment for intelligent mechanical design and manufacturing clients. The system architecture is based on a client-server computing model. Each client in the system is expected to contribute towards the over-all effort of managing the entire life cycle of a mechanical product. The development of these clients is facilitated by providing a kernel of functionality. The kernel functionality emphasizes the ability of each client to contribute and utilize knowledge that is essential for their successful operation. The development of such a knowledge based computing environment benefits from the existing work in data modeling, semantic data modeling and knowledge representation. In this context, a functional data model is developed, and its utilization in engineering data modeling is demonstrated through a comprehensive example. A brief discussion on implementation of certain kernel functionality is included.