Acquisition And Modeling Of Conceptual Structural Design Knowledge

The goal of this research is to provide knowledge-based computer support for conceptual structural design through design suggestions and alternative evaluations. Rules-of-thumb from experience and generalized heuristic knowledge are mainly used. A knowledge acquisition process was performed from available literature and through interviews with two experienced structural engineers. For the interviews, design situations were simulated in which the engineers were videotaped while designing and thinking aloud. From these interviews, rules-of-thumb were obtained and a conceptual design process, established in advance, was validated. Additional knowledge, not available in the literature, was obtained through direct questions to engineers. The knowledge modeling is based on the technology nodes paradigm by which the engineer controls the design process and is allowed to backtrack to previously made decisions. Interaction is provided with a component called StAr (Structure-Architecture) that supports conceptual structural design through geometrical reasoning, based on a representation model that integrates architectural and structural entities. This interaction will permit the engineer to combine knowledge with geometric and functional architectural and structural concerns. A knowledge-based prototype will be implemented in Java. An envisioned interface for this prototype is presented in this paper.