Functional Relationship Management in Product Development

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• determining geometric features and functional features of a plurality of engineering models, each of the engineering models including a plurality of parts positioned in relation to one another in at least one assembly, the functional features including properties relating at least two of the plurality of parts;
• identifying a first part present in each of the engineering models;
• determine a function relating geometric features of the first part to the functional features of the plurality of engineering models;
• determining geometric features of a second part, the geometric features of the second part including at least one dimension that is distinct from the geometric features of the first part;
• determining, based on the function, updated functional features of the plurality of engineering models as a result of substituting the second part for the first part in the plurality of engineering models;
• and
• generating a report identifying at least one failure mode exhibited by the updated functional features.

A system comprising:

• a database storing geometric features and functional features of a plurality of engineering models, each of the engineering models including a plurality of parts positioned in relation to one another in at least one assembly, the functional features including properties relating at least two of the plurality of parts;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• identify a first part present in each of the assemblies;
• generate a function relating geometric features of the first part to the functional features of the plurality of engineering models;
• determine geometric features of a second part, the geometric features of the second part including at least one dimension that is distinct from the geometric features of the first part;
• determine, based on the function, updated functional features of the plurality of engineering models as a result of substituting the second part for the first part in the plurality of engineering models;
• update the database to incorporate the updated functional features;
• and
• generate a report identifying at least one failure mode exhibited by the updated functional features.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• determining geometric features and functional features of a plurality of engineering models, each of the engineering models including a plurality of parts positioned in relation to one another, the functional features including properties relating at least two parts of an assembly;
• generating a function relating the geometric features of to the functional features of the plurality of engineering models;
• applying a geometric variation to the function to determine updated functional features;
• the updated functional features indicating a result of implementing the geometric variation in the plurality of engineering models;
• and
• generating a report identifying at least one failure mode exhibited by the updated functional features.