Associativity to Support Easy Modifications

The extensive use of associativity in the building of the Product Information Model ensures that any required modifications to a model item can be carried out swiftly. The associativity information is specific information on the relationships between objects. These relations are used to maintain consistency in the overall ship model and to ensure that when one object in the model is changed then, if necessary, the related objects are modified accordingly. The associativity information is used to make the model as independent of fixed geometry as possible. The full technical and "topological" data that describes each design object is stored rather than the simple "numeric" geometry of the design. This means that, if for example, a change of the hullform is made and which does not affect the associativity, then the new structural geometry can be rapidly created from the earlier stored information. The associativity and topological information in the technical data is also used to automatically re-create new geometry in other parts of the design. In the example below a web frame is moved, or "copied", to a new location. In this case the system re-calculates the geometry to fit the boundary at the new location maintaining the same topological description.

Ease of Making Changes and Copying Design Arrangements