Knowledge based design of complex products by the concept of design working spaces

In this article an approach is shown to support knowledge intensive engineering along the product-life-cycle. The approach supports the design of complex products by the concept of design working spaces. A design working space is an eucledian space and builds the framework for a methodological decomposition of complex design problems into sub-problems. The sub-problems are evaluated by a knowledge based design system which is flexible and evaluates problems along the product-life-cycle phases. With an example we describe the knowledge based design system for knowledge intensive design activities.