Knowledge-based system for material selection for design with new materials

摘要

Designers expect more than support for the generation of drawings from the future generation of CAD systems, i.e. they need to be assisted by computer-aided decision making or applications working with artificial intelligence (AI).AI methods are particularly suitable for the processing of unstructured scattered knowledge for the solution of complex problems.One such problem is the selection of materials for construction with new materials (e.g. fibre-reinforced composite materials). The number of possible combinations and configurations of these materials is too large for the user, and, in particular, a nonexpert user, to be able to find optimal solutions. In the course of various research programs, a prototype of a knowledge-based system for material selection for design with new materials has been developed.Data about the materials and their properties are processed and stored in a database system. A computer-aided model has been developed that enables material data to be accessed via a comfortable graphical user interface. Selection of the optimal materials is possible through experience and expert knowledge (for example about production technology for fibre-reinforced composite materials) recorded as rules and facts in a database system. The expert-system shell Nexpert Object provides an appropriate mechanism to store and process expert knowledge.The developed expert system supports the designer in selecting the optimal material, observing given technical standards of the cured component. It selects alternatives, taking technical and economic issues into account, evaluates them, and offers them to the designer, who makes the final decisions.