MODELLING ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESSESWITH ROLE ACTIVITY DIAGRAMS

摘要

A graphical approach to modelling engineering design processes is presented, drawing onrnPugh’s Total Design model, the V-Process Model of software and systems engineering and RolernActivity Diagrams. The proposed notation combines and extends these representations in arnnovel way. The concurrent, multi- disciplinary characteristic of Pugh’s model is retained andrnextended to embrace concurrent development of subsystems by supplier processes. The Vprocessrnmodel is adapted to be consistent with Pugh’s model and both are interpreted as RolernActivity Diagrams, enabling the assignment of activity to logical organisational processes,rnwhich interact with each other.rnThe resulting notation supports the description of multi-disciplinary processes in-the-large,rnproviding an understandable conceptual model of an organisation’s total design activity inrnthe development of complex products. It also supports the description of processes andrninteractions at a detailed level, in a way which is consistent with the high level models.rnThe proposed approach has been trialled on the engineering processes involved in the designrnand safety assessment of aero-engines and their control systems. Results are discussed and thernapproach assessed.