Knowledge‐Based Standard‐Independent Member Design

This paper describes a knowledge-based model of the structural component design process. The primary knowledge source is a design standard, which is a collection of requirements limiting the behavior of structural components. Several additional knowledge sources are applied to design a structural component: structural and material behavior relationships, optimization methods, and design expertise. Because the model treats the design standard as a separate knowledge source, it can produce structural component designs that conform to any design standard. Standard-independence provides robustness (i.e., changes in the design standard do not affect the way in which the knowledge is used) and flexibility (i.e., any design standard may be used as a knowledge source).