Interoperability of CAD models and SysML specifications for the automated checking of design requirements

Currently and in view of technological development, mechatronic systems have become more and more complex. This will undoubtedly influenc the design of products. For this reason, designers do not stop developing new solutions to best ensure customer satisfaction on functional dimensional and geometrical requirements. However, to achieve a finished product satisfying all stakeholders, designers should face a multitud of problems. Among them, the difficulty of data exchange between the different developers contributing to the design process of a finishe product. Several research works have focused on data exchange between Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering applications (CAE) or at the CAD development and manufacturing levels. However, few works study the interoperability between all the produc development levels and the system engineering one. For instance, the lack of continuity between the system-engineering model which has global view on the product, and the CAD model which integrates the parts and assembly CAD data, causes an enormous lost time in th verification and validation process of requirements. In this paper a methodology allowing the interoperability between the system leve specifications and the CAD model of a product being designed is proposed. Based on SysML diagrams, the customer needs and the functiona analysis of the product lead to the definition of the initial structure of the product assembly. The results of this step are used as an input by th CAD designer to detail the architecture of the mechanical assembly. Finally, the product assembly data required for verification and validatio are extracted from the CAD model and then used back to enrich the preliminary SysML model. The system engineer uses the collected data i the SysML model to check and validate the product requirements according to a V model. A pedal of a bicycle was used as an example to illustrat and prove the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.