Basic Investigation on Structural Design by Smalltalk

Abstract

Recently, the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely utilized for engineering problem solving. One approach is to make computers more intelligent, and this can be realized by using AI oriented computer languages including LISP, PROLOG and Smalltalk. This paper deals with the basic considerations on the application of Smalltalk to structural design. Smalltalk is one of object oriented languages. Objects in Smalltalk have hierarchical structures named “class” and return some results by receiving messages named “methods”. The class “SteelBar”　is defined and the stress, strain and elongation of a bar subject to tensile loading are obtained by adding some methods to our system, or an intelligent image.