Design Processing of Regular and Nonstandard Structural Components

A design standard can be complemented with a case base of nonstandard designs to form a richer knowledge source that can be used in the development of a system for processing of both regular and nonstandard structural designs. This leads to the question of classification of a design context to regular or nonstandard, which relates to the interpretation of the standards scope. This paper describes a software system, called SADA-II, which has been developed to address the issues of standards scope characterization and nonstandard component design processing. SADA-II also introduces a method for processing of standards provisions that are written in a generic format (e.g., pertaining to different section shapes) and explores the potential of integrating the system with a graphics package and other CAD applications. Illustrative examples for the application of SADA-II to detail structural design are provided.