A design, simulation and visualization environment for object-oriented mechanical and multi-domain models in Modelica

The complexity of mechanical and multi-domain simulation models is rapidly increasing. Therefore new methods and standards are needed for model design. A new language, Modelica, has been proposed by an international design committee as a standard, object oriented, equation based language suitable for description of the dynamics of systems containing mechanical, electrical, chemical and other types of components. However, it is complicated to describe the system models in textual form, whereas CAD systems are convenient tools for this purpose. We have designed an environment that supports the translation from CAD models to standard Modelica notation. This notation is then used for simulation and visualization. Assembly information is extracted from the CAD models, from which a Modelica model is generated. By solving equations expressed in Modelica, the system is simulated. A 3D visualization tool based on OpenGL visualizes expected and actual model behavior, as well as additional parameters. The environment has been applied for robot and flight simulation.