"MODEL.LA. A Modeling Language for Process Engineering: Part I. The Formal Framework"

STEPHANOPOULOS, GEORGE; HENNING, GABRIELA; LEONE, HORACIO

COMPUTERS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Elsevier Science Limited

Año: 1990 vol. 14 p. 813 - 846

0098-1354

A modeling language (MODEL.LA.) has been constructed for the interactive or automatic definition of models for processing systems. It is based on six modeling elements and 11 semantic relationships obeying basic axioms of transitivity, monotonicity, commutativity and merging. Its syntax can be described by an extended BNF (Backus—Naur Form). The structure of process models is depicted by specific digraphs, which are symbolically constructed by algorithmic procedures driven by the context of the modeling activity. MODEL.LA. can generate models of processing systems: (a) at various levels of abstraction; (b) capturing qualitative, semiquantitative and quantitative knowledge; (c) with complete documentation of the modeling context (assumptions, simplifications, process engineering task). Its object-oriented modularity makes it extensible and easily maintainable. Although a large part of MODEL.LA. is domain-independent, its vocabulary and syntax is specific to process engineering activities such as: process development, design, control and operations.