A strategy to support application's dependent features interpretation

Products have different meanings, according to technological viewpoints. They tend to be constituted by an aggregate of specific models linked by functional constraints. Each model fulfils functionalities through specific shapes, that can have multiple interpretations. In this paper a product is considered as an initial gross shape that has been sequentially altered through the introduction of form features. Then, the strategy to recognize the form features is to reconstruct the gross shape step by step, after each detection of an alteration by a form feature. This has the advantage of reducing the problem complexity since it removes progressively the feature's interactions. Some applications, such as FEA, need to interpret the product depending on the viewpoint applied: some features are to be removed, others are to be replaced by idealized ones. This abstraction process has two parts: simplification and idealization. The simplification is based on the described strategy and c leans out the initial model from any non-pertinent feature. The second one idealizes the resulting objects according to analysis goal.