Year 2005
Erik Karlsson

Process Simulation Model as Part of a Process Plant Life-Cycle Information Environment

Integration of a simulation model to a life-cycle information environment is studied in this thesis. The aim is to find a solution for automatic simulation model creation from the process design information stored inside the life-cycle information environment.

First the architecture of the simulator is studied. Modularized simulation architecture is shown to be a good selection for an integrated simulator. This makes it possible to extend the capability to simulate models. This is important for and integrated simulator because the simulated process objects and the requested level of simulation details of the model are not known in advance. The CAPE-OPEN specification for simulator modularization is studied but it is shown not to be suitable as given when the simulation model is built from large number of smaller models. This is due to its usage of the component technology to modularize the software that causes significant efficiency penalty.

The other part of the integration problem is the information management inside the life-cycle information environment. It is studied by integrating simulator and design information specific data models with each other. It is shown that in a life-cycle information environment a global data model between the specific data models makes the integration problem more manageable. The information transformation between the data models can be problematic requiring logic to derive the information from the target model to the source model. During the life-cycle of the project changes to the central data model can be needed. It is shown that this can be handled by using a data model framework that allows the change of the data model or by manually constructing new data model and copying the old information to it.

The study shows that a simulator can be integrated with a life-cycle information environment. This requires that the simulation ability of the simulator can be extended and the information integration problems inside the life-cycle information environment are handled.

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