Genera Consultation

Creation of an application with Genera starts with the creation of a template. The figure below shows a typical template created using Genera.

1. This is a template for a material selection application. The idea is to select suitable CRA's by specifying the requirements for the application, the characteristics of the environment and evaluation of the material.
2. In this template, the tasks Application specification, Environment assessment and Material characterization are the objects which in turn are represented in terms of critical parameters. The parameters in each of the objects for this template are:
   • Application - Mechanical condition, allowable hardness and required yield strength.
     
   • Environment - CO₂, H₂S, pH and temperature.
     
   • Material - Cr, Mo and W.
3. Each of these parameters have a relative importance within the object and play a role in defining the state of the object.
4. Each of the parameters have Value - Rank pairs like the set shown for Mo. Any value within the range of defined values can be used for assessing the state of a parameter in an object. The V-R pairs can be either numeric or textual.

A consultation of the template would require the specification of values for the different parameters in each of the objects. The values are compared to the existing values in the template and a rank is given to each of the parameter values. The figure below shows a consultation window corresponding to the template shown above.

The consultation window displays each of the objects and the parameters for the Objects. As the value for each of the parameters is input the template ranks it and computes its contribution towards the cumulative value for the object.

For example, considering that the value for Mo is 2.1 it is assigned a rank of 64 (interpolated) and based on its relative importance it contributes to the composite value, shown as Score. The cumulative value of the rank and the relative importance for each parameter is the score for the state of the object. In this case, based on a composition shown in the value column, the material object has a score of 74 on a scale of 1-100. Similarly, other objects can be characterized based on values for relevant parameters, and cumulative state of different objects (Application, Environment, Material) defines the state of the system.

GENERA has been developed using principles of object-oriented programming, as a stand-alone Microsoft windows application. It comes with a graphical interface designed to be intuitive and allows the user to perform different tasks using a toolbar or a menu system.

GENERA Menu and Tool Bar

The first of the New icons allows the user to create a new template. You can open as many templates as needed simultaneously. The consultation will be based on the template that was opened earliest.

The second New icon allows the user to create a new consultation. Any number of consultations can be open at the same time, as long as a template is open.

The Open icon lets the user open an existing template. A template should be open before a consultation is attempted.

The Save icon allows the user to save a created template. Only templates can be saved in Genera. The consultations are instances of the templates.

The Print icon allows the user to print a report of the performed consultation.

The Library icon lets the user select pre-defined objects to be used in a new template. This allows the aspect of data sharing.

The Help icon provides access to the help system of Genera.
The menu provides all the functions of the toolbar and advanced features such as printer setup and print preview.