Engineering feature description in mechanical engineering design

Although geometric modelling packages have advantages over simple drafting systems, the needs of the engineering designer are such that further improvements in the user interface of modern CAD systems are required. This paper proposes a user interface based on engineering description, in which the component shapes and other attributes are described as a collection of manufacturing-related features. Definitions of a feature are given from both the user and geometric view. The role of feature description in integrated CAE systems is considered in relation to the automatic transfer of information to manufacturing software