A Formalization of Ashok Goel's SBF Concept of Function

We formalize within the dolce foundational ontology the Structure-Behavior-Function model (sbf) proposed by Ashok K. Goel and colleagues. Our work focuses in particular on the notion of function. This work on sbf is part of a larger project that includes the formalization of the concepts of function by Chandrasekaran and Josephson and by Stone and Wood. The overall goal is to make engineering functional descriptions of technical artifacts based on different concepts of function, exchangeable by separately formalizing these different concepts in a single ontological framework. The formalization is a necessary step towards the development of an integrated information system for engineering design.

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