Zhenjun Ming

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.

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.

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 Method for configuration design of Reconfigurable Machine Tool

Reconfigurable Machine Tool (RMT) has been recognized as effective equipment for dealing with the dynamic manufacturing requirements. For the problem how to decide RMT optimal configuration for requirement, we propose a method including both the function model and the decision-making stages. At first, Living System Theory is used to establish the function model, in which the integration of basic modules is archived as the elements to describe the RMT configuration. And Degree of Freedom is used to express the relative motion among the modules as the constraint for selection of feasible configurations. Then a decision model for configuration is constructed, while the economic cost and reconfigurability are used as the indexes. According to the decision model, the configuration with appropriate trade-off among indexes is decided from the feasible configurations, which is RMT optimal configuration for the requirement. The efficacy of this method is illustrated through a RMT configuration design example.

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.