Using Ontologies to Optimise Design-Driven Development Processes?

Abstract. While optimisation-driven design has become prevalent in many engineering dis-ciplines, support for designers to effectively use the results of simulation processes has not been addressed satisfactorily, since, processes monitoring and reuse of simulation results are not well-integrated into current development practices. We introduce a framework to integrate Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation processes using ontological engineering, where arte-fact and simulation models are exploited to yield more effective optimisation-driven develop-ment. We show how meta-modelling techniques can overcome representational and semantic differences between analysis disciplines and execution environments