Engineering Design: A Synthesis of Views

Design is a central activity in engineering. It is both a creative process not easily defined and a thought process that can, with increasing success, be externalized, articulated, and modeled. This book aims to clarify the issues, providing an operational definition of engineering design and an explication of design as a discipline. In particular, the book focuses on the contribution of AI (artificial intelligence) to engineering design. With its clear presentation of the main ideas of recent AI-based models of design, set within the context of inductive design models, the book offers an integrated view of current thinking about design. Also included is a brief review of some key AI-based problem-solving methods and classical design tools. The author closes with a look ahead at the roles that symbolic representation and knowledge-based (expert) systems can play in engineering design in practice and in education.