Abstract
An EBL-based method for acquiring conceptual design knowledge in physical systems was proposed and implemented to a system based on the idea that such knowledge can be acquired by analyzing the structural features of existing designed objects.
Since any object can be interpreted via various design rationalities such as teleological, causal and economical ones, it can be modeled as a hierarchy which consists of designs goals, subgoals, structures and substructures toward attaining those goals. Through organizing domain-specific knowledge of the EBL system according to the above hierarchical model, this system yields a systematic explanation of how structures attain design goals. This results in a generalized version of Functional Diagram used in Value Engineering. From the Functional Diagram, general design knowledge of various levels can be acquired by a single positive instance of designed objects. The operationality of the acquired knowledge is then analyzed with reference to its modes of acquisition.
The acquisition method is implemented to a system using PROLOG.
