Intelligent modelling interface for dynamic process simulators

Over the past three decades, modelling packages for chemical processes have become more advanced and widely used. For example, equation-oriented dynam ic simulators such as gPROMS and SpeedUp (Pantelides and Barton(1)), are us eful for simulating plantwide processes as well as unit operations. However , they rely on the user being proficient in modelling. A useful next step w ould be the integration of some knowledge into the formation of the process models. This would lead to the design engineers having a library of knowle dge to check on first, much as an expert engineer uses their past experienc es to help guide them through a design. If this could be incorporated into a modelling interface this would greatly help the design engineer, especial ly when tackling problems in areas in which they have little, or no experie nce. This paper describes the design of an intelligent modelling interface that incorporates a knowledge base using some form of apriori case library and r ecall facility. The interface also incorporates an automatic input file gen eration stage. At present, the user can: specify a single unit operation pr oblem to search for, retrieve similar cases from the database, specify thei r solution in the database based on past cases and experience, and then aut omatically generate an input file for the gPROMS simulator (Clak(2)). A tub ular reactor example is used to illustrate how the system works.