A PROTOTYPE OF KBS FOR MATERIAL SELECTION IN BUMPER BEAM DESIGN

This paper describes the development of the Knowledge Based System (KBS) for material selection in bumper beam design. The KBS is an expert system used to select the most suitable material by defining constraint values into the system. The aim of this project is to select the most suitable material for an automotive bumper beam. The selection method was based on the material selection requirements such as mechanical properties, physical properties and economic value. The constraint values were documented in the product design specification (PDS) derived from experimental work and design calculation. The KBS will rank the materials in the form of a hierarchical graph for the best five of the most suitable materials. The top ranking materials have the closest specification values to the user’s defined value