Functional Feature Modeling in Mechanical Product Development

• Author / Creator

  Cheng, Zhengrong

• Engineering design is a complex process. There are unknowns and uncertainties. To better support engineering design, researches on different aspects of engineering design need to be conducted. Function concepts represent the engineering design purposes of the product elements and are usually considered to be interdependent from the detailed geometric solutions. Unfortunately, functional considerations are often not represented systematically and explicitly in Computer-aided Design (CAD). The gaps between functional and geometrical representations of the design models require an extensive research to unveil their associations and interactions. The main objective of the thesis is to incorporate functional design capability with CAD. It begins with a quantitative analysis of design dependencies among design element at the product design level, which indicates that there exist mixed types of design dependencies, both functional and structural. Next, with the dependency analysis of CAD models, it shows that CAD modeling at best complies with the form of the design at the current stage. The current practice of CAD modeling lacks functional design flavor. Because functional design is critical in the engineering design process, it justifies the need of extending CAD modeling capability to support functional design. Functional feature, which inherits from the associative feature, is introduced to address the issue of connectivity deficiency between the declarative functions in high-level design and procedural feature operations in detailed CAD modeling. A methodology for CAD modeling that is driven by the functions of the design artifact with functional features has been proposed. Functions, as the result of traditional functional design, are taken as function attributes in the functional feature. Abstract geometry features are proposed as functional concept carriers. It shows how to construct abstract geometry features and how to synthesize them in the detailed CAD models. The research results of this thesis provide concepts and tools for designers, CAD practitioners, and researchers to better understand the design dependencies and carry out function-oriented modeling.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Functional feature, Enginering design, CAD modeling

• Graduation date

  Spring 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DB7W54M

• License

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