Guoxin Wang

Ontology-based executable design decision template representation and reuse

Abstract In decision-based design, the principal role of a designer is to make decisions. Decision support is crucial to augment this role. In this paper, we present an ontology that provides decision support from both the “construct” and the “information” perspectives that address the gap that existing research focus on these two perspectives separately and cannot provide effective decision support. The decision support construct in the ontology is the compromise decision support problem (cDSP) that is used to make multiobjective design decisions. The information for decision making is archived as cDSP templates and represented using frame-based ontology for facilitating reuse, consistency maintaining, and rapid execution. In order to facilitate designers’ effective reuse of the populated cDSP templates ontology instances, we identified three types of modification that can be made when design consideration evolves. In our earlier work, part of the utilization (consistency checking) of the ontology has been demonstrated through a thin-walled pressure vessel redesign example. In this paper, we comprehensively present the ontology utilization including consistency checking, trade-off analysis, and design space visualization based on the pressure vessel example.

Systematic design space exploration using a template-based ontological method

Abstract The realization of complex engineered systems using models that are typically incomplete, inaccurate and not of equal fidelity requires the understanding and prediction of process behavior in design. This necessitates the need for extending designer’s abilities in making design decisions that are robust, flexible and modifiable particularly in the early stages of design. To address this requirement, we propose in this paper, an ontology for design space exploration and a template-based ontological method that supports systematic design space exploration ensuring the determination of the right combination of design information that meets the different goals and requirements set for a process chain. Using the proposed method, a designer is able to (1) systematically adjust the design space in due time to manage the risks of errors accumulating and propagating during the design of different stages of the process chain, (2) improve the ability to communicate and understand the interactions between design information in the process chain. We achieve the said through (1) procedure for design space exploration is identified to determine the sequence of activities needed for the systematic exploration of design space under uncertainty; (2) the decision-based design information flow is archived using the design space exploration process template and represented by utilizing frame-based ontology to facilitate the management of re-usable information. We demonstrate the efficacy of this template-based ontological method for design space exploration by carrying out the design of a multi-stage hot rod rolling system in steel manufacturing process chain.

Ontology-Based Executable Design Decision Template Representation and Reuse

The Decision Support Problem (DSP) construct is anchored in the notion that design is fundamentally a decision making process. Key is the concept of two types of decisions (namely, selection and compromise) and that any complex design can be represented through modelling a network of compromise and selection decisions. In a computational environment the DSPs are modeled as decision templates. In this paper, modular, executable, reusable decision templates are proposed as a means to effect design and to archive design-related knowledge on a computer. In the context of the compromise Decision Support Problem (cDSP) we address two questions:1. What are the salient features for facilitating the reuse of design decision templates?2. What are the salient features that facilitate maintaining model consistency when reusing design decision templates?Here, the first question is answered by the identification of reuse patterns in which specific modifications of the existing cDSP templates are made to adapt to new design requirements, and the second question is answered by developing an ontology-based cDSP template representation method in which a rule-based reasoning mechanism is used for consistency checking. Effectiveness of the ontology-based cDSP representation and reuse is demonstrated for the redesign of a pressure vessel.Copyright

Integrated Simulation Modeling Method for Complex Products Collaborative Design Using Engineering-APP

The design and development process of complex products is a multi-disciplinary collaborative process, which requires the cooperation of distributed teams. However, traditional simulation methods are usually discipline-oriented and there is a lack of efficiency in terms of share and reuse of the existing simulation models in a distributed and collaborative environment. In order to address this problem, we propose a multi-level knowledge framework for simulation model knowledge representation, retrieval and reasoning. Specifically, a simulation knowledge model by the name of “Engineering-APP” is developed to enable simulation knowledge sharing by using Web Service technology. The Engineering-APP model represents an integrated simulation knowledge wrapper, which includes information about the geometric model, design algorithm or analysis codes. Based on the Engineering-APP model, an intelligent collaborative prototype system is developed to support the design process with different stakeholders. Through an engineering case study, it is demonstrated that the proposed framework and Engineering-APP are effective and efficient for the representation and reuse of existing simulation models knowledge.

A Review of Tacit Knowledge: Current Situation and the Direction to Go

Currently, tacit knowledge has attracted increasing research attention. However, the theoretical foundation of tacit knowledge is still not well formulated, because the researches are very disperse. This work provides a review of the current researches. First, the definition of tacit knowledge is discussed by answering several questions. Next, tacit knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge quantization are identified as two research topics in the current research community. Following that, the technical progress of each topic is summarized and analyzed. Finally, we provide a thumbnail of the researches and identify three research consensuses to answer where we are. While, seven research directions are identified to answer where we shall go.

PDSIDES: A Knowledge-Based Platform for Decision Support in the Design of Engineering Systems

We hypothesize that by providing decision support for designers we can speed up the design process and facilitate the creation of quality cost-effective designs. One of the challenges in providing design decision support is that the decision workflows embody various degrees of complexity due to the inherent complexity embodied in engineering systems. To tackle this, we propose a knowledge-based Platform for Decision Support in the Design of Engineering Systems (PDSIDES). PDSIDES is built on our earlier works that are anchored in modeling decision-related knowledge with templates using ontologies to facilitate execution and reuse. In this paper, we extend the ontological decision templates to a computational platform that provides knowledge-based decision support for three types of users, namely, template creators, template editors, and template implementers, in original design, adaptive design, and variant design, respectively. The efficacy of PDSIDES is demonstrated using a hot rod rolling system (HRRS) design example. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4040461]

A brief introduction to tacit knowledge and the current research topics

Computational awareness (CA) is proposed to give awareness capability to a machine. For implementing CA, a direct way is to simulate human awareness. Since tacit knowledge is an important component for human awareness, this work tries to give a brief introduction of the current research topics. First, several consensuses that have been achieved are identified. Then we identify three research topics, including tacit knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge quantization and tacit knowledge generation. Finally, in an attempt to provide a mathematical definition, we present an abstract computational model of tacit knowledge. By this work, we hope to contribute to the research community by clarifying the state-of-the-art of tacit knowledge.

The Reuse Method of Design Knowledge Based on Knowledge Component

To speed up the pro duct design efficiency, product designers would like to utilize the previous design knowledge. This requires a systematic and structured way for design knowledge representation and reuse. A new method which is named knowledge component to make design knowledge reused conveniently is presented in this paper. Knowledge component is a virtual reuse model which has specific function. The internal structure and working principle of knowledge component are discussed; meanwhile the involved design knowledge was analyzed in detail. The design process of barrel chamber was taken as an example to illustrate the executing process of knowledge component. Testing result shows that this method is feasible in terms of increasing design efficiency and helps the designers reuse the existing knowledge rapidly.