Selection strategies in a structural design support system

This paper presents two selection strategies for the process of establishing a structural design support system. The distinct difference between the strategies is the point of time when the decision maker participates in the design process. The first strategy is called the pre-selection strategy in which the designer tries to grasp the intention or preference of the decision maker at an early stage of the design, and the second one is called the post-selection strategy in which the designer prepares all design information as much as possible, and then the decision maker selects the final design solution. Based on these two strategies, the shared and essential processes of the structural design support system will be explicated in advance, and then the characteristics of these two strategies will be compared. The crucial parts of the structural design support system are common design process that is shared in the two strategies and the alternative based design approach. The common design process means the basic sequences of the design process, such as problem specification, concept design, preliminary design and selection of the final design solution, that are used conventionally in the general design process. These design processes are carried out with the screened region of the design alternatives, which is efficient and effective for the selection of the final design solution. With these concepts, the structural design support system especially the grid-like type structures will be examined and the usefulness of our design methodology will be confirmed. Received October 14, 1999