Information structuring for use and reuse of mechanical analysis models in engineering design

Nowadays, in an industrial context, cost and delay reduction, as well as quality improvement are of major interest in engineering design. Therefore, in order to make a decision as early as possible and according to the product specifications, mechanical analysis is used more and more, and earlier and earlier in the engineering process. Then, a multitude of mechanical models are elaborated during engineering design, and management difficulties appear with engineering changes or evolution of specifications. Moreover, when the designer is faced with design or modelling options, previous analysis could answer the choice of options for decision making. Then, the reuse of a previous analysis must be envisaged. The paper presented deals with the aim and the different use of mechanical analysis in embodiment design. Afterwards, different levels of models handled by the designer during the engineering process are proposed. A particular type of analysis, namely `instructional' is identified in a further step and its interest in a reuse context is emphasized. Finally, information structuring is proposed in order to allow mechanical analysis reuse during engineering design.