Modeling Using the Adaptive Modeling Language

Vehicle frame structural engineering and optimization is discussed with focus on integrated design, analysis, and cost modeling within a single software environment. Unique to this environment is an innovative object oriented architecture that implements a unified part model, providing various levels of modeling and analysis fidelity while capturing conceptual, preliminary, and detailed engineering methodologies. It automates and manages data transfer and interaction among users, designs, analyses, and tools. It employs a feature-based design environment for structure design guiding the user through the various levels of modeling fidelity. It supports concurrent design, analysis, optimization, and cost modeling and links multiple users over a network of distributed heterogeneous workstations. The environment supports generative modeling enabling design trade studies for model design configuration and shape optimization. The environment builds upon and leverages many successful programs already deployed and in use. Various vehicle design cases are illustrated, thus highlighting the modular functionality and the multidisciplinary knowledge domains supported. It significantly enhances the overall engineering process for evaluating potential vehicle concepts through detailed and fully integrated design, analyses, and cost modeling. Introduction and Demonstration of Need Product design is a collaborative effort among different engineering disciplines that typically evolves through three stages: conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design. The process steps in designing a product are: recognition of need, definition of the product’s functions, and identification of a solution employing the various engineering theories and software packages needed . Structural design is merely one critical facet in this design process, as are mechanical design, structural analysis, manufacturing planning, and costing. The software industry has followed the concept of separating the engineering disciplines into specialized software packages, each focused on a single domain. Traditionally, cost analysis software products have adopted comparison methods that use databases to determine cost by weight using adjustments on similar previous design costs. Not only are such methods inadequate for accurate costing, but are often considered and treated as an afterthought. The framework presented in this paper supports collaborative engineering integrating design, analyses, and cost into a common object-oriented unified model enabling cost analysis at the early stage in the design cycle. It also employs activity-based cost modeling methods that can compute the product cost through the management of the driving elements at the various steps of the product’s production and assembly cycle. Figure 1: Product/Process Design Copyright © 2002 by TechnoSoft, Inc. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. with permission.