TOWARDS MODEL BASED DESIGN – A CASE STUDY: THE MODULAR DESIGN SYSTEM Towards model based design

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed a tool called the Modular Design System (MDS) to assist design professionals in the processes of planning, design, and construction document preparation for repetitive facility types. The use of early versions of MDS has demonstrated a reduction in time by nearly two-thirds typically required to design and award a construction contract. Initially developed to support Army Reserve Training Centers, the USArmy Corps plans to expand its use over a wider range of repetitive facility types. The current implementation is a hybrid document/model approach consisting of electronic drawings linked by an external database. Data consistency issues associated with this architecture limit its scalability. To meet expanded requirements, the USArmy Corps is developing a model based information approach utilizing emerging commercially available object based CAD systems. This redesigned information infrastructure marks a fundamental change from an implicit to an explicit model-based representation. Three key capabilities make MDS a powerful tool. First, the ability to capture and reuse corporate design criteria at the architectural function level. Second, it provides an integration framework for engineering analysis. Third, it manages and integrates the contract document production. The underlying MDS information infrastructure will move towards a model based approach. Future work will focus on collaborative processes such as conflict resolution and design review. Additionally, MDS offers the opportunity to transfer an information rich model downstream to operations and maintenance.