Data base design for computer-integrated structural engineering

The most likely architecture for an integrated engineering software system is a series of application programs operating off a shared central data base. The data base is the most critical part of the system. This article proposes a design for such a data base. The steps involved in data base, design are first reviewed, and several requirements for an effective structural engineering data base system are identified. A data base design based on a component-connection abstraction model and the object-oriented data model is then presented.