The Complementary Roles of Knowledge-Based Systems and Numerical Optimization in Engineering Design Software

In many engineering design problems, the designer converges upon a good design by iteratively evaluating a mathematical model of the design problem. The trial-and-error method used by the designer to converge upon a solution may be complex and difficult to capture in an expert system. It is suggested that in many cases, the design rule base could be made significantly smaller and more maintainable by using numerical optimization methods to identify the best design. The expert system is then used to define the optimization problem and interpret the solution, as well as to apply the true heuristics to the problem. An example of such an expert system is presented for the design of a valve anticavitation device. Because of the capabilities provided by the optimization software, the expert system has been able to outperform the expert in the test cases evaluated so far.