Parametric coordinator for engineering design

Coordination of design information is essential for the design team to prov ide accurate technical documents for the actual construction. Design change s are inevitable during any ordinary building project. If the design change s are not properly managed, design conflicts will be created, which will re sult in more expensive design or even failure in the design-construction pr ocess. However, little research has been done to address the issue and ther eby provide tools for the management of design changes. This paper presents a novel approach that can facilitate the coordination of design informatio n through managing design changes with the help of a parametric coordinator . Design changes of dimensions between different building components are sp ecially discussed. The proposed parametric coordinator provides each buildi ng component with the linking knowledge that is described as a dimensional property and a reference property. A group design method is applied to chec k the design consistency. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrat e the feasibility of the proposed parametric approach for design change man agement.