An extensible software architecture for modeling complex object-oriented multicomponent systems

Abstract

This article presents a modular, object-oriented architecture for the PBM (Porous Media Modeling) library, a Java-based system designed to model consolidation filtering kinetics in hierarchical porous media with two- and three-level porosity structures. Developing extensible software architectures for scientific computing remains a persistent challenge, particularly for complex, multi-component systems with multi-level relationships. Current software modeling tools are tightly coupled with specific object-oriented domains and the mathematical models of physical processes, such as consolidation filtering in porous media. Consequently, these tools must satisfy strict engineering requirements regarding architectural stability, feature expansion, and the seamless integration of new numerical schemes and physical models. The proposed architecture consists of four decoupled modules: Process, Direct, GUI, and Extra. These modules are interconnected through well-defined interfaces and governed by the Factory, Strategy, and Template Method design patterns. Specifically, the Process, Direct, and Extra modules encapsulate simulation parameters and implement diverse methods for computer modeling and parameter identification. These components control the spatiotemporal distributions of key process variables across various macro- and micro-porous scales. Concurrently, the GUI module provides polymorphic visualization via the drawable interface. Ultimately, we demonstrate that this architectural design enables the seamless integration of new mathematical models, numerical schemes for high- performance computing, and analytical methods without modifying the existing codebase, thereby satisfying the open-closed principle.