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Abstract

The problems of data and process decomposition and representation in engineering design are the objectives of this paper. In any typical mechanical design, many very complex interdependencies are generated Interdependencies abound in heuristic rules, physical laws, corporate policies, etc Managing and controling these interdependent links is very difficult, especially in the context of concurrent engineering Design data decomposition needs to be investigated to break up the large design while also providing a framework to manage the links

Design decomposition is investigated from a data modeling perspective and an object-oriented paradigm (OOP) perspective A data modeling technique, called object-oriented analysis by Coad and Yourdon, is selected to build a data relationship model of the engineering analysis phase of design and results in an object-oriented product model (OOPM). The OOPM is implemented in Smalltalk A major emphasis of the research is to consider the alternative "views" that the design should possess A "view" can be thought of as a different perspective of the same design: a structural engineer may want a different "view" of the design as opposed to the "view" that a marketing person may want The views may give some insight into how to conduct the decomposition of a complex design for concurrent operation. This concept of views is implemented on top of the OOPM and recommendations are drawn as to the applicability and flexibility of the model.

Keywords

data storage data extraction objects object-oriented programming design theory data relationships decompositions

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Design Data Storage and Extraction Using Objects

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