An object-oriented methodology to support externalisation and visualisation in conceptual design

摘要

The paper presents an object-oriented approach to support externalisation and visualisation in the design of technical systems and their computational design environments. In this approach, technical systems are represented using the formalised visual modelling languages, UML and SysML. Function analysis system technique (FAST) semantics are incorporated to facilitate creative thinking in the design process. The overall methodology works as a cognitive aid to support externalisation and visualisation of design information in an unambiguous way. A design case study is presented to demonstrate how the framework can be used to interactively generate visual models of a technical system and how these visual models can be used to forward engineer design support software. The resulting software can be integrated into the framework to provide additional support to engineering designers dealing with similar design situations in the future.