Analysis of design abstraction, representation and inferencing requirements for computer-aided design

Abstract A comparative study of contemporary CAD/CAM/CAE software and engineering tasks reveals a mismatch between the requirements of engineering and the capabilities of contemporary software. The mismatch lies in several areas, which include: sets of information supported, levels of abstraction or detail, and functions to aid visualization, reasoning and decision-making. This paper examines the mismatch in the above areas by means of generic models and discusses the functional requirements for developing computer-aided tools for automating and integrating some design engineering tasks.