LPT-2005-30 [BibTeX]
Birgit Bayer, Wolfgang Marquardt:
A conceptual information model for the chemical process design lifecycle
In: M. Jeusfeld, M. Jarke, J. Mylopoulos (Eds.): The Method Engineering Textbook, MIT Press, 2007
Abstract:
In the process industries there is a growing demand for an improvement of process design in
order to obtain better plants in shorter development cycles. The current state-of–the-art in design support is mainly based on separate or loosely linked software packages, which are
applied for special tasks and purposes. Within these tools, growing amounts of data,
documents, and all other kinds of information are handled. Flowsheets, process descriptions,
equipment specifications, experimental data, mathematical models, simulation results, cost
calculations, safety reports, and documentations are created, used, and stored in different and
often very specialized software systems in proprietary formats. These different pieces of
information need to be managed since they are valuable resources of knowledge. While they
are created and handled within different tools, there are often dependencies and redundancies
between them. Thus, automated information exchange has been recognized to be of major
importance for improving and enhancing engineering work (Beßling et al., 1997). Empirical
studies have shown, that companies are working towards integrated solutions for the
management of information, but that there are still many unsolved problems. These include
the data exchange between heterogeneous tools or the integration of different lifecycle phases
(Hameri and Nihtilä, 1998).