Dynamic Decomposition Strategies in the Conceptual Modelling of Design Objects

Abstract

The representation of design objects in a conceptual schema is essential for any computational process model of design With the developments in artificial intelligence and in knowledge-based design have come many conceptual modelling schemas for representing design objects However, when generalized domain models are constructed using any of these schemas, these models make assumptions regarding a particular view of the design object In an environment where many disciplines are involved in the design of an object, each discipline will have its own view of the object All these views must be respected While all of the schemas address the issues of generalization-specialization and aggregation-decomposition relationships, these are not the only important issues that need be addressed for a competent and efficient conceptual modelling schema. This paper addresses some of these other important issues, namely multiple and dynamic views of decomposition, the recognition and referencing of features, and the problems of common parts and parts of elements