The use of an engineering database for system integration

Integrated CAE implies the intimate interlinking of many diverse engineering systems. This could be achieved on a piecemeal basis with data distributed over the various systems and managed in local databases. However, a much more elegant solution for system integration, and certainly the only viable long-term one, is through the medium of a central engineering database. This database must store all design and manufacturing data and support multidiscipline multilevel access. More importantly it must store geometric data in a canonical form, thus insulating the company and the data from the vagaries of CAD systems.