Plant Engineering: Conceptual Modeling and Modular Design of a Computer Aided Environment

When designing a plant for continuous or semi-continuous processes, such as paper pulp or petrochemical production systems, engineers face very complex tasks, which are only in part supported by software tools. The paper analyses the problem, proposes the RCAD software architecture and describes partial implementation results. The architecture, which is based on a simple yet powerful conceptual model, combines low cost commercially available packages with relatively little custom written software. Its features are nowadays either supported by very expensive or very specialized integrated packages, or separately performed by largely disintegrated database managers, drafting systems and other software. Keyword codes: J.6