A Scenario-Based Visual Modeling Method for the Complex Products Lifecycle

The development of complex products is challenged by diverse requirements, interdisciplinary coupling, intricate behaviors, and prolonged lifecycles. Traditional document-based systems engineering methods exhibit deficiencies in requirement validation, architectural verification, and cross-disciplinary integration, struggling to support early-stage verification and validation as well as interdisciplinary collaboration. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a scenario-based visual modeling method for the entire lifecycle of complex products, aiming to realize a closed-loop process epitomized by “construction as verification.” This method integrates model-based systems engineering, scenario-driven design, and multi-level visualization techniques to construct a multi-paradigm visual modeling and simulation framework driven by operational scenarios, use-case scenarios, and working-condition scenarios, each serving as the blueprint for constructing the corresponding Operational Concept, Functional/Logical, and Physical Specification Models. Concurrently, a semantic integration mechanism based on hybrid ontologies is introduced, which resolves semantic heterogeneity and facilitates model interoperability among multi-source heterogeneous models through formalized mapping. Furthermore, a simulation engine scheme based on Discrete Event System Specification is proposed to enable continuous verification from conceptual design to solution development. A case study on the braking mechanism of a high-speed train demonstrates that the proposed method can effectively support precise requirement validation, logical architectural verification, and multi-solution trade-off analysis, thereby significantly enhancing early verification capabilities and R&D efficiency.