Search

A crucial success factor in a technology driven market such as the chemical industry derives from the ability to understand and interpret new technologies fast and convert this knowledge into a competitive advantage. In search for procedures to advance corporate know-how faster, mathematical modeling is gaining more attention. The new challenge for systems research is to create a new breed of computer-based technologies for assistance and/or partial automation of the creative modeling process. Model Generation is a new modeling paradigm designed specifically for rapid modeling of large multi-scale systems in the industrial practice. It proposes model building by means of phenomena-oriented modeling languages. Automatic interpretation of high-level design languages for the specification of the underlying physical and chemical phenomena leads to an equivalent set of system equations. Computer-aided model generation enables engineering teams to formulate highly structured process models in a short amount of time. It also focuses the modeling effort onto the fundamental principles governing a process model without the need for explicit coding of all constitutive and balance equations. This presentation outlines the solution approaches and features of a prototypical computer-assisted modeling environment entitled Tech Tool, which is being developed in an academic--industrial collaboration.