Innovative Engineering Design

This paper examines issues involved in the automation of the engineering design process. The different generic design processes are categorized, and a design methodology based on generating innovative combinations is described. This methodology is applied to the structural design problem, and a number of example problems are solved. The first part of this paper introduces the issues involved in designing engineering systems, and describes a generalized method that can be used to describe and solve problems of design. The second part presents a general and consistent methodology for the representation of engineering knowledge, which can be used to solve a wide variety of problems. In the third part, the implementation of a design program is described, a structural design problem is solved, and an analysis of the performance of the design methodology is made. Finally, the authors reflect on the future of engineering design through Al techniques, and on the practical applications of these developments.