CATIA V5 Knowledgeware Tools Part 1: Overview
Danny Bouchard, Dassault Systemes

Introduction
This article is the first of a series on the CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools. It provides an overview of Dassault Systemes approach on knowledge technology, as well as CATIA V5 knowledgeware capabilities & tools.

Dassault Systemes approach on knowledgeware
CATIA V5 not only offers its users the ability to simply design and assemble products in a 3D environment but also the ability to capture the engineering knowledge and reuse this knowledge to reduce the design cycle time and increase the product quality, notably by the creation of intelligent and automated templates from a generative model. Such templates or generative models can then be used by multiple users through the same company and its suppliers, thanks to knowledgeware tools.

The Dassault Systemes approach to knowledge technology is based on the CATIA V5 product that leverages corporate engineering know-how to secure product design process and ensures the designers of the quality and consistency of their design with corporate standards.

For example, an automotive company is developing a new product. The first step would be to define the product requirements. Those product requirements are driven by marketing, engineering and manufacturing requirements. Design intent is driven by product requirements.

Figure 1 : Product Requirements drive the design Intent

How can knowledgeware drive the design intent? Often, the product’s requirements can be described through knowledge features. For example, in the automotive industry, while the marketing department needs a rim with material and manufacturing cost not to exceed 110$ per unit, the engineering department must accommodate a one inch diameter hub with five holes in the rim. In this particular case, the user would have to create knowledgeware rules and checks to make sure his rim respect those marketing and engineering requirements. The knowledgeware features then verify the design intent as per the product requirements. CATIA V5 has such capabilities and much more.

Figure 2 : Knowledgeware features to impose the design intent of a product

CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools overview
CATIA V5 knowledgeware is a set of tools intended to assist engineering decisions and design intent. It automates design and detects predefined design errors for maximum productivity. CATIA V5 offers a suitable variety of knowledgeware tools that allows users to design a wide range of products from simple to complex shapes in a simple, fast and efficient way. Amongst the advantages of CATIA V5 knowledgeware suite of tools are the benefits from full integration with all other CATIA V5 applications, the conversion of engineering intent in 3D and the ability to do quick reverse engineering.

Figure 3 : Four models generated with the same CATIA file in a simple way

The objective of this series is to go through a quick overview of CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools to be able to build a generative model after. The table below provides a brief description of the main CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools.

Figure 4 : Definition of main CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools

Conclusion
This article presented a general overview of the Dassault Systemes approach in managing design intent with knowledgeware capabilities, as well as a quick overview of the CATIA V5 knowledgeware tools. The usage of knowledgeware tools provides infinite design possibilities and saves a lot of time for worldwide CATIA users. The next article will show details on how to build a generative model to quickly create a library of different associative models.

Danny Bouchard
Dassault Systemes
Danny Bouchard

New Directions for CAD #3
Kurt Swanson, Boeing

This is a third article that looks at the limitations of CAD and suggests that improvements can come with a better understanding and application of the biologic.

Knowledge based engineering or KBE supposes a reusable CAD based solution. This also presumes that there is a suitable archetype within which a KBE or MDO activity can take place. For instance a bottle may be considered an archetype that has innumerable forms but is relatively simple to describe as a system – an opening and an enclosure. If a review of all solutions to this archetype were made, a series of patterns would emerge that could lead to a systematic identification of the design parameters and subsequently a KBE process to create a ‘bottle’.

My interest here is a teleological argument -- therefore the present scenario is limited to those forms that are designable as a combination of primitive shapes available with a CAD environment. It is probable that a KBE process could be written to explore the set and to prescribe a series of solutions that have already been accomplished for selection. In this manner the requirement can be fulfilled without have to explore the entire design space with all of its combination or permutations. Parameters of this process could be height, width, length, volume, thickness etc. The KBE process than would provide solution within a specific archetype that respond to the system requirements.

Extrapolation of this KBE design space into other archetypes is similarly possible for simple geometric shapes. For large and complex systems such an approach is similarly used by not necessarily on a detail level. A loft may be developed for the external lines of an vehicle – car, boat, airplane etc – but the internal arrangement is generally the domain of the designer that uses a past knowledge and intuition for creating a useful interior arrangement.

The goal of KBE and automated design processes is to accomplish as much of the detail effort as possible without manual input or man-in-the-loop. Let me refer to this as computational algorithms. For a given set of sparse parameters an algorithm is written that acts upon the data and provides an actionable result – something that can be used in the next process.

So an essential part of an automated process would include a set of initial parameters (the archetypical bottle), a computational algorithm for modifying the initial set, and the requirements that drive the process to a result. Every KBE process and every design would have three fundamental parts – an environment that drives requirements, a set of essential starting parameters and a process by which the initial parameters can be processed to a final state.

Our CAD processes are largely limited to a small set of objects by which to explore the design space. These objects are arithmetic abstractions – they consist of objects that have simple rules governing the interrelation of all the parts. Bio-mimetic parts are difficult to create with these processes because fundamentally they arrive at their form based on energy processes and not abstract prismatic manipulations.

A simple soap film provides insight in to the contrast of process between CAD design and natural teleological processes. A soap film can be produced that is an extremely close approximation of the mathematical relation of an origin and radius of a sphere. The soap film can provide a spherical representation even if it is partially supported by a wire loop. And in the later case the film will deform in the vicinity of the boundary. But, the film is spherical by virtue of the molecular tension and the internal pressure. So an alternate method of generation of a sphere in CAD is to employ the physical process of pressure and membrane tension.

For Bio-mimetic structures the process of creating the head of the femur should be a pressure and tension relation. The head is integrated into an irregular boundary of the shaft and this feature has no general solution as an abstract CAD primitive. The shape does not fit within any archetype of present CAD design. New archetypes are needed that can simply and adequately respond to the new and complex forms in the domain of the biologic. These archetypes will have a sparse set of initial conditions, specify the environment and material interactions and have a computational process that results in an actionable object.

About the author: Kurt Swanson is a Senior Engineer (Boeing, Philadelphia, kurt.w.swanson@boeing.com). His interest is to expand the set of CAD surfacing tools currently utilized for design and to provide affordable, quality aerospace products.

The Circle Game
Dr. Joel Orr, Orr Associates International, www.joelorr.com

The greatest discovery of the 19th century is that changing your behavior changes your destiny.
William James

"This is precisely the point you were at 17 years ago. You made some bad decisions, and suffered because of them. Now you’re at the same point on the circle, about to make the same wrong choices. What are you going to do?" I was in a restaurant near a client’s office, talking to my wife. "I'm going to make better decisions this time," I told her with determination.

Immediately, over the restaurant’s PA system, Joni Mitchell’s The Circle Game* started playing:

And the seasons, they go ’round and ’round.
And the painted ponies go up and down.

We’re captive on the carousel of time.
We can’t turn, we can only look behind
from where we came. And go ’round and
’round and ’round in the circle game.

I got shivers down my spine. I didn't have to compute the probability of that song showing up in that place; I knew that, for me to believe it to be a mere coincidence, would take more faith than I could muster. This was a personal message, loud and clear.

I looked "behind from where I came," and saw my decisions of 17 years earlier. I skimmed over the effects of those decisions on my life and the lives of those I love--and wept. But I also became very determined not to repeat my earlier mistakes.

Dear engineering professional, come with me on an excursion—a brief break from your routine—to an environment with a curious and pervasive quality called "meaning." I live here. This environment has qualities that may be strange to you, but bear with me for a few paragraphs; I think you will enjoy the visit.

Here, viewed from above, life looks like a circle. We seem to traverse the same territory over and over. But rotate the view: Hey, it's a helix--a coil-spring shape goes round and round—over the same ground but at different levels.

For example, in school, there's first-grade arithmetic, and sixth-grade arithmetic...and so on. In the School of Life, there's first-grade forgiveness, sixth-grade forgiveness, college freshman forgiveness...and so on—with patience, honesty, loyalty, truthfulness, and courage being some of the courses offered.

Each of us has a custom-designed curriculum—circumstances uniquely prepared with situations and people that will challenge our character weaknesses. We confront each situation on a "pass/fail" basis. If we pass, we move on to new challenges. If we fail—well, this school's motto is, "You'll do it 'til you do it right!" Some people are still taking first-grade subjects on their thirty-seventh loop—failing to start the upward spiral of the helix each time the challenge is presented.

A recent e-mail asked: "If experience is the best teacher, how come it gives the test before the lesson?" There is an answer: ”Sometimes we need to fail at something before we recognize its significance.”

So if we're "captive on the carousel of time," how can we play the "circle game" to win? I think we need to ask lots of questions--and assume responsibility. If the circumstances of my life are tailor-made for my edification, I must ask about each new challenge, each new difficulty: What is the right thing to do in this situation? What am I supposed to learn here? How can I move up to the next level of my life-helix?

My wife and I help each other see our good and bad decisions, so that we can do better on the next cycle. Perhaps you have such a spouse, or a parent, or a good friend. But even if you don't, you can do it for yourself—if you are willing to be patiently reflective.

Writing things down helps. By keeping journal notes, you can keep track of what you were thinking before--so that if you got bad results, you can do something different the next time round. Remember: One definition of “insanity” is doing the same old thing, and expecting different results.

We have access to knowledge of what is right and wrong for us, personally, and a moment-by-moment signaling system that tells us how we’re doing. You know its voice; it quietly says, "Take an umbrella," But the sun is shining, so you don't take an umbrella. Later, in the downpour, you say, "Something told me to take an umbrella!" or it says, “Don’t trust that man,” and you say, “I shouldn’t be judgmental,” and later—while trying to pull the knife from your back—you say, “Something told me not to trust him.”

My goal? Learn to listen to Something, whether it makes immediate sense or not. Otherwise, it’s back to the Circle Game.

Read about Joel’s latest book at www.everymanahero.com

* Joni Mitchell, The Circle Game, copyright Joni Mitchell 1966-69, Siquomb Publishing, BMI.

Reminder

There is a COE Forum Category devoted to this topic. It can be found under Knowledge Based Engineering.