STRUCTURAL DESIGN SYSTEMS USING KNOWLEDGE-BASED TECHNIQUES

ABSTRACT Engineering information management,and the corresponding,information systems are of a strategic importance for industrial enterprises. This thesis treats the interdisciplinary field of designing computing,systems for structural design and analysis using knowledge-based techniques. A prototype system, GENGINEER, of an intelligent front end (IFE) for damage,tolerance design of aircraft structures has been developed. The system works as an IFE to a fracture mechanics,program package, CAFE. A product model of a damage tolerance analysis, consisting of about 70 frame objects, is automaticallycreated by an interactive menu-driven process. The interaction with the CAFE program,is controlled using a declarative representation of both structure and process. A hypothetical airliner is used as a test model and demonstration example. Specific conceptual models have been designed for representing the structure and