Hms. Lababidi et al., APPLICATION OF CONTROLLABILITY ANALYSIS TOOLS DURING THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STAGE, Computers & chemical engineering, 20, 1996, pp. 207-212
This paper presents an extension to KBDS (Banares-Alcantara and Lababi
di, 1995), a prototype design support system for process engineering,
that will enable the application of controllability and dynamics studi
es at the early stages of design. The underlying object-oriented knowl
edge representation structure of KBDS is flexible enough to accommodat
e such extension. The proposed extension focuses on design models crea
tion and representation, and means of evaluating these models. This in
cludes the addition of steady-state and dynamic modeling capabilities
and the provision of communication to external packages to support the
analysis and evaluation of design alternatives. Two systems were cons
idered for integration with KBDS: MATLAB (Math Works, Inc., 1993a) and
Omola (Andersson, 1995). Communication with these external tools is p
rovided in the first instance through object-oriented message passing;
we are planning to use epee (Ballinger el al., 1994) in the future. T
he integrated tools have been tested on the controllability of multipl
e CSTRs in series and effects of recycle streams. The control analysis
sessions are found vital in supporting the evolution of design altern
atives. They also highlight some features of KBDS in the support of th
e design process itself, i.e. the identification of design versions wi
th the output generated by the control tools and the maintenance of de
cisions made during their application.