Parametric Coordinator for Engineering Design

Coordination of design information is essential for the design team to provide accurate technical documents for the actual construction. Design changes are inevitable during any ordinary building project. If the design changes are not properly managed, design conflicts will be created, which will result in more expensive design or even failure in the design-construction process. However, little research has been done to address the issue and thereby provide tools for the management of design changes. This paper presents a novel approach that can facilitate the coordination of design information through managing design changes with the help of a parametric coordinator. Design changes of dimensions between different building components are specially discussed. The proposed parametric coordinator provides each building component with the linking knowledge that is described as a dimensional property and a reference property. A group design method is applied to check the design consistency. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed parametric approach for design change management.