Application of entity-based approach for unified representation of design alternatives for structural design

To support the design process fully from preliminary to detailed design sta ges in a natural way, a computer-integrated design system is needed. In ear ly design stages more than one design alternatives are considered as possib le solutions. The representation of design alternatives must be uniform and unbiased to be equally treated. In this study, an entity-based approach ha s been adopted to develop product and process models for representing desig n alternatives, which is more desirable for top-down design process because it allows high-level abstraction in representing design information and de sign activities. The entity-based approach has several benefits: (1) a unif ied representation of design alternatives; (2) a consistent development of product and process models based on the entity-based concepts; and (3) an e asy integration of the product and process models. The work toward product and process models for structural design presented in this paper is a usefu l step toward integrated computer-aided design systems. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.