Nadège Troussier

A meta-modelling framework for knowledge consistency in collaborative design

Abstract The design of complex system requires a lot of interactions between experts and then between numerous Computer Aided X software (CAX) (where X can be Design (CAD), Engineering (CAE), Manufacturing (CAM), etc.). In order to improve the consistency of the whole system design and the related data and information, knowledge crossing the expertises must be tracked and formalized regarding a shared reference. That means that instead of defining a large reference models to which each expert refers to, a light collaborative model is defined enabling to connect data from each expert model to adhoc data from other expert models, following the least commitment principle. In this topic, a new meta-model is proposed in a Model-Driven Engineering approach to manage the integration of heterogeneous experts’ knowledge models in a collaborative process. The structure of the proposed knowledge meta-model is defined taking into account the complexity of knowledge definition and the properties of its components. This meta-model is split in a meta-model of data on one hand and a Collaboration Meta-Model in the other hand, to represent the distinction between the core concepts of knowledge and additional elements serving to represent the relation between these concepts, and between concepts of heterogeneous experts’ models. The proposed meta-model is illustrated on an industrial case study to highlight the way to put it in use, and its interests to enable collaboration between experts throughout the design process.

Complex System Simulation: Proposition of a MBSE Framework for Design-Analysis Integration

Abstract The multi-disciplinary nature of complex system, such as aero engines, requires a data structure that considers the behavioural interactions within the system. This paper focuses on the management of simulations models and data, with respect to complex system structure. It is proposed to use model based system engineering (MBSE) methodology to support modelling activities and improve the integration of simulation activities in the design process. Current studies on MBSE address the issue of representing and integrating design models with diverse analysis/simulation/behavioural models. However, some limitations can be identified, especially regarding the federation of system presentation for addressing the overall behavioural aspects of the product (multi-physic, local and global behaviours) and thus considering the several system levels. Our proposal is to provide a software framework based on a data model that manages complex system structure. This data model structures behavioural information considering three major interactions: • Interactions between components simulation models, • Interactions considering multi-level behaviours (e.g. use of components simulation for a module simulation) and • Interactions between domain behaviours (e.g. Thermal impact on mechanical). A demonstration of this software framework is proposed, based on the set-up of a mechanical simulation of an aero engine using CATIA/SIMULIA V6.

Sustainable Product Lifecycle Management and Territoriality: New Structure for PLM

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a business strategy, which aims to streamline the flow of information about products and related processes throughout the whole product’s Lifecycle such that the right information in the right context at the right time can be made available. Recently some studies have been presented on general capabilities of PLM to improve sustainability paradigm, but the subject is still not solved completely. In this paper, first a critical review on the recent advances of Sustainable PLM is presented then a new structure for PLM is proposed based on combination of geographical information systems (GIS) and Lifecycle assessment (LCA), to reach an improvement on sustainable development in territorial scale for achieving a more sustainable paradigm in global scale.

E-waste management and resources recovery in France

There are various issues of concern regarding electronic waste management, such as the toxicity of hazardous materials and the collection, recycling and recovery of useful resources. To understand the fate of electronic waste after collection and recycling, a products and materials flow analysis should be performed. This is a critical need, as material resources are becoming increasingly scarce and recycling may be able to provide secondary sources for new materials in the future. In this study, we investigate electronic waste systems, specifically the resource recovery or recycling aspects, as well as mapping electronic waste flows based on collection data in France. Approximately 1,588,453 t of new electrical and electronic equipment were sold in the French market in 2010. Of this amount, 430,000 t of electronic waste were collected, with the remaining 1,128,444 t remaining in stock. Furthermore, the total recycled amounts were 354,106 t and 11,396 t, respectively. The main electronic waste materials were ferrous metals (37%), plastic (22%), aluminium (12%), copper (11%) and glass (7%). This study will contribute to developing sustainable electronic waste and resource recycling systems in France.

Concurrent versioning principles for collaboration: towards PLM for hardware and software data management

The change management (CM) and version control mechanisms used in the mechanical and software domains are presented in the product lifecycle management (PLM) and application lifecycle management (ALM) approaches, respectively. Based on their comparison, this paper discusses branching/merging concepts and utilises them to propose an evolution of the product data management (PDM) functions of PLM, thereby allowing PLM to become a collaborative platform common to software and hardware engineers. This evolution is an opportunity to develop a three-way merge tool for CAD documents. Recent works on model-merging techniques from the software development domain are evaluated in the process.

Towards PLM for Mechatronics System Design Using Concurrent Software Versioning Principles

In this paper, the Change Management (CM) and version control mechanisms used in the mechanical and software domains are presented respectively in the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) approaches. Based on their comparison results, this paper discusses branching / merging concepts and presents them as an opportunity for PDM improvements.

Innovative PLM-based approach for collaborative design between OEM and suppliers: Case study of aeronautic industry

To achieve different assembly operations on the aircraft structure, the aeronautic OEM needs to create and manage various fixture tools. To cope with these needs, the OEM begun to adopt the supplier integration into the tooling development process. This paper presents a conceptual PLM-based approach to support new business partnership of different suppliers. The new business partnership aims to improve the role of supplier in the different tasks of design, configuration and fabrication of the tooling. The use of the PLM concepts is proposed to enhance the collaboration between OEM and the equipments suppliers. UML models are proposed to specify the structure of the PLM solution. These models describe the relation between the aircraft assembly project, and the tooling design process.

Agile Design Methods for Mechatronics System Integration

The multi-disciplinary nature of mechatronics product significantly increases complexity of the development process. In this paper, the benefits of agile design methods are presented for multi-disciplinary system integration.

PLM-based certification process in aeronautics extended enterprise

Nowadays, aircraft development requires an efficient organisation and strong ICT support to set up a real aeronautics extended enterprise merging workers and companies involved in such a large project. During the ENHANCE project, a business case study dealing with aeronautics certification has been developed. A Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) implementation based on UML has been carried out for demonstrating the feasibility of multi-partner collaboration. The use of PLM standards and tools across an extended enterprise for the aeronautics certification process has been validated.

PHENIX: product history-based reverse engineering

Reverse engineering (RE) is an activity which consists in digitising a real part in order to create a CAD model. Today, a lot of references are centred on geometrical approaches based on transformations of the point cloud. The issued CAD models are generally ‘frozen’ or barely re-usable. Nevertheless, to support engineering changes in a new design process, the product should be represented with a parametric geometry. This paper suggests a knowledge-based approach in order to provide a product’s parametric CAD model. A data model based on the extension of the core product model (CPM) is suggested and enables to manage multi-CAD models of the knowledge-based RE process.