Rafael Batres

Internet-Based Integrated Environmental Assessment Using Ontologies to Share Computational Models

Summary New advances in Internet technologies and computer modeling provide opportunities for collaborative systems to support research and development in the field of industrial ecology. In particular, new information technologies such as semantic search engines based on ontologies could help researchers to link fragments of knowledge generated at research centers from around the world. Using a storyline of four imaginary researchers who hope to find collaborators in order to develop their research findings, we illustrate two levels of a four-level architecture for an Internet-based knowledge integration and collaboration environment for integrated environmental assessment. The foundation of the proposed architecture is a belief that computational models are an effective medium for conveying expert knowledge of various phenomena. Drawing from this premise, the first level of the architecture stands on a base of computational models that in some way represent the expert knowledge of the model builder. At the second level, we provide markup and interface definition tools to describe the type of knowledge contained in each model, together with the types of information services that can be provided. The results of research at these two levels of an Internet-based knowledge integration environment for integrated environmental assessment in industrial ecology are presented in this article. Our work on the third level of model searching and matching and the fourth level of parametric model integration and solving will be presented in subsequent articles.

A G2 based MDOOM testbed for concurrent process engineering

A three life cycle dimensional concurrent process engineering (CPE) conceptual framework is presented, which is captured by a multi-dimensional object-oriented model (MDOOM) and implemented into a G2 based testbed. Emphasis is placed on the testbed configuration and implementation details. Finally, a distillation process design example is given to illustrate the way of using the testbed to carry out CPE.

A life-cycle approach for model reuse and exchange

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a formalism in which plant processes and products are represented as structural, behavioral, and operational interrelated objects. A metamodel approach based on this paradigm is exploited to develop a simulation model representation that supports model exchange with varying level of detail and coarseness. Metamodels have the properties of aggregation and abstraction (hierarchical decomposition). Metamodels in lower levels have associated equation models in such a way that information about the topology and the structure of metamodels can be used to generate a larger set of equations. This work evaluates the use of Modelica as a model representation language in the metamodel context. Modelica is a modeling language that is intended to facilitate the exchange and reuse of metamodels and the construction of model libraries. To illustrate the use of metamodels, an example based on the boiler model is presented. Instances of top-level metamodels describe the behavior that takes place in one equipment item. Modelica is a model representation language that is being developed in an international effort that aims at providing an approach for model reuse and exchange among simulation systems. Modelica code is noncausal, which means that equations are declared in a mathematical sense and not as a computational procedure. Thus, models can be formulated independently of how they are to be solved.

A Multidimensional Design Framework and Its Implementation in an Engineering Design Environment

This paper describes a multidimensional design framework that distinguishes in an explicit way the role that control and opera tion play in the generation of the behavior of the device as a whole. This multidimensional framework that represents physical, behavioral, and operational aspects of the plant is intended to provide the means for consistency along the life-cycles of the enterprise, plant and prod uct, as well as, clear interactions between the plant structure and its associated behaviors. The design environment based on such frame work is being developed to support the increasing fidelity of the models that dictate the behavior associated to each piece of equipment, combined behaviors, inheritance of actions and interoperable life-cycle activity performers.

A KQML multi-agent environment for concurrent process engineering

Abstract This paper describes the current development of a concurrent process-engineering environment in which the design tasks are supported by KQML speaking agents. In this environment, distributed agents provide software interoperability, data-exchange, and collaboration facilities:

Multi-dimensional object oriented approach for automatic generation of control recipes

Abstract The chemical and biochemical industries face intense pressure to improve efficiency, product quality, and human safety, whilst reducing the environmental impact of their operations. Under these circumstances, batch processing is becoming increasingly important. In the batch process operation, the plant information has to be reconfigured dynamically so that it corresponds to the current operation status. This requires the management of plant information reconfiguration as well as the separate handling of process management and unit management. One of the most important tasks of batch process operation management is a management of recipe that is a set of information that defines the production requirements. The current way of manual configuration of production level recipes is tedious and prone to error. In this research, an automatic generation of production level recipes (control recipes) has been proposed. Once a scheduling is carried out, simple transformation rules can generate the control recipe from the master recipe using the plant structure information. It makes the maintenance of control recipes easy. Because the transformation procedure of the master recipe to the control recipe is completely transparent, it is easy to backtrack the rationale of each operation.

Operating procedure synthesis: science or art?

In this paper, we provide a review of concepts and developments in operating procedure synthesis (OPS), starting from its early development through to its current state. Operating procedure synthesis is a problem in which a set of equipment manipulations and their orderings must be generated to take the process from an initial state to a goal state. While there has been ongoing research for about 30 years in this area, only a few systems have been reported to be industrially deployed. The approach taken in this paper is, first, to describe the problem in general terms; second, to discuss previous work in this area; and, finally, to present ideas and directions for future work.

Development of batch process operation management platform

The chemical and biochemical industries face an intense pressure to improve the efficiency, product quality, and human safety, whilst reducing the environmental impact of their operations. Under these circumstances, the batch processing is becoming increasingly important due to a greater emphasis on low-volume, higher added value products, and the need for flexibility in a market driven environment. In this research, a batch process operation management platform is designed based on ANSI/ISA-S88 and the multi-dimensional object oriented model (MDOOM). The proposed scheme shows a number of advantages such as a systematic and automatic generation of control recipes, design rationales usable throughout the lifecycle of batch process operation, a guaranteed feasibility of control recipes, improved modularity and transparency of auxiliary operations and an easy integration with a simulator.

An agent-based environment for operational design

We provide the development up to date of P-DOSS (Plant Design and Operation Support System), an engineering support system that aims at assisting designers working in the detailed process design for creating a more safe, controllable and reliable plant. P-DOSS includes an integrated modeling environment for exploring multiple P&ID design alternatives together with the capability of analyzing each of them by means of simulating the operations carried out during the life-cycle of the plant. To this end, an experimental prototype has been constructed comprising a simulated multi-agent environment in which it becomes possible to concurrently carry out plans and actions. As a result a constant feedback of simulation agents is the key to produce more reliable design and operations. The object-oriented structure of P-DOSS distinguishes between the process component models and their physical counterparts which provides the possibility of selecting the adequate models fidelity, and sets the basis of a more flexible information model for both plant design and operations.

A Method for the Identification of Mechanical Properties Using Surrogate Models

—Identification of material properties involves physical experimentation followed by modeling, simulation and manual optimization. However, the last step tends to be computational expensive. This paper investigates an artificial neural network (ANN) surrogate model for identifying material parameters. The proposed approach is illustrated with a case study based on a nano-indentation test.