A Methodology of Design Knowledge Acquisition for Use in Learning Expert Systems

Abstract This paper presents an approach to design conceptual knowledge acquisition. The approach was basically developed for knowledge acquisition in BRZDY1, a learning expert system for conceptual design currently under development. A formal identification of qualitative, conceptual design decisions, based on typology by coverings and the description of design problems by qualitative variables, is discussed. Also, we describe the fundamentals of the method of generating design rules from examples of decisions made by an expert. This method is based on the extended concept of rough set. A comprehensive example of the application of this method to conceptual design of steel members under bending is provided at the end of the paper.