AND PROCESS SIMULATION

THIS RESEARCH PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT DEVELOPING AN APPRENTICE SYSTEM FOR PROMPTING AND GUIDING DIE DESIGN PROCEDURE AND PROCESS SIMULATION. THE APPROACH IS A NOVEL ONE BECAUSE IT SYNTHESIZES THE AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FROM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (SE), DATA BSES (DB), OPERATING SYSTEMS (OS), ANALYTICAL MODELING (AM), AND ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) INTO A USEFUL PERSPECTIVE FOR INFORMATION-HANDLING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES INVOLVED IN DIE DESIGN PROCEDURE AND PROCESS SIMULATION. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL OFFER A POTENTIAL CAPABILITY FOR PROMPTING AND AIDING THE DESIGN ENGINEER IN HIS TASK OF FINDING EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS TO COMPLEX PROBLEMS. THIS WILL ALLOW THE DESIGN ENGINEER TO CONSIDER MANY POSSIBLE OPTIONS AND ALSO ACCELERATE THE PROCESS WITH OR WITHOUT HIS INTERMEDIATE INTERVENTION TO PRODUCE AND ADEQUATE OR OPTIMUM DESIGN. THE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT WILL BE TESTED FOR EXTRUSION-PROCESS SIMULATING AND DIE DESIGN IN PHASE I. IN PHASE II A GENERIC APPRENTICE SYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED FOR OTHER UNIT PROCESSES SUCH AS FORGING, POWDER METALLURGY FORMING, AND SHEET-METAL WORKING.