OO Concepts for Process Modelling and Simulation

An object-oriented (OO) modelling approach which associates a detailed representation of the process structure and of the transformations that the material in the structure undergoes is presented through the illustrative example of a reactor. The structural decomposition of the process devices gives rise to the concepts of elementary devices and ports. The associated elementary model results from combining this structural decomposition with a material object and a set of hypotheses. The complete process model is then generated by aggregation of the available elementary models. By defining models on the level of technological components smaller than the classical unit operations, this modelling approach aims to meet the challenge of the model adaptability to process diversity and complexity. Implementation of this modelling is greatly facilitated by new computer technology and tools, and notably the methods and languages associated with object-oriented analysis and design