Development of Finite Element Analysis Advisor Expert Systems

Abstract

This paper describes two expert systems to provide advice for finite element analysis which were developed through the activities of Research Committee RC-74 on Nonlinear Finite Element Methods under the auspices of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. The elastic analysis of a cantilever beam is taken as the example, the primary objective of the committee work being to examine and establish the fundamental methodology for constructing expert systems combined with finite element analysis. A rule-based system was developed at first by the use of OPS and based on the knowledge of finite element analysis collected from the committee members. This system was revised into another frame-based system written in Prolog with special attention paid to the integrity and consistency of knowledge representation. The prototypes thus developed provide a basic framework for the construction of such expert systems.