Proceedings of ICAD2002 Second International Conference on Axiomatic Design

This paper presents a computer-aided method for designing topologies and shapes of geometric artifacts from the highest-level functional requirements in conceptual design phase. The method combines a thinking process of engineering design and knowledge base within axiomatic design framework. The proposed thinking process is called a V-model in this paper. The V-model consists of three main sub-processes; top-down decomposition process of functional requirements(FRs) and design parameters(DPs), mapping process of DPs into geometric entities, and bottom-up integration process of the geometric entities. Knowledge base stores information on FRs, DPs, and corresponding geometric entities generated during the V-model design process in a unique structure designed to combine advantages of both top-down and bottom-up approaches. The design matrix is used to relate visually the effect of geometric entities to corresponding FRs. The method presented in this paper can be the basis for creating a new intelligent CAD system that incorporates the FRs of a design task. This method enhances the designers ’ creative thinking for geometric shape design and facilitates the reuse of CAD models by relating functions to geometric topology and shape design