Modelling is one of the most important activities in process engineeri
ng since it provides insight into the behaviour of the system being st
udied. Modelling is also a complex activity as the formulation of appr
opriate and consistent models requires help from experts and often res
ults in a knowledge-intensive, time consuming and error-prone task. A
knowledge-based modelling support system, KBMoSS, has been developed t
o foster the exploration of the model space, maintain the model's evol
ution, enhance the engineer's understanding of the model, and improve
cooperation between modellers. Mathematical models can also be automat
ically generated within this system. The model generation is based on
the modelling approach developed by Vazquez-Roman (1992). Users can ei
ther accept the generated model, modify it, or write their own models
from scratch. The user interface was designed to allow the description
, examination and manipulation of a chemical process with reference to
its modelling aspects. It allows flexible navigation through the vari
ous parts of the modelling structure and was implemented using the obj
ect-oriented paradigm.