APPLICATION OF INTELLIGENT CAD PARADIGMS TO PRELIMINARY STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Structural design is the synthesis of structural systems and component s in such a way that the system behaves as intended by the designer an d meets the constraints imposed by physical laws and project requireme nts. The reasoning inherent in the design process is to be carried out on different levels and with different degrees of abstraction, uncert ainty and impact on further design decisions. The nature of design ope rations ranges from schematic decisions based on heuristic considerati ons concerning system types and topology to parameter definitions conc erning member material and geometry inferred from numerical computatio ns. In our approach we explicitly distinguish between strategy and rel ated expectations, design actions on a tactical level and local design modifications due to untypical conditions. Artificial intelligence te chniques are applied such as planning methods, heuristic search and co nstraint programming which are used in a distinct manner on the differ ent levels. The approach is discussed by examples taken from a prototy pe implementation for preliminary structural design. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.