1. A method for maintaining equivalence relations, comprising: receiving, in a product data management (PDM) system, a 3D model including a plurality of components; receiving a selection of one of the plurality of components of the model; receiving a selection of at least one equivalence relation to be discovered in the 3D model; identifying at least one target component of the plurality of components of the model; completing the selected component with respect to each target component according to each selected equivalence relation; and building and storing an equivalence relationship graph according to the completed selected component.