AN INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM FOR SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR CRITICAL AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS (IKSMAT)

THE PROPOSED PHASE I PROJECT WOULD ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY AND DEVELOP THE SPECIFICATIONS AND WORK PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PROTOTYPE COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM (PHASE II) FOR THE SELECTION AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF CRITICAL AEROSPACE COMPONENTS. THE SYSTEM WOULD PROVIDE A RELIABLE MATERIALS PROPERTY KNOWLEDGE BASE AND THE INFERENCE CAPABILITY TO PERMIT RAPID AND SOPHISTICATED COMPARISONS OF CANDIDATE MATERIALS, THE SELECTION OF PRIME CANDIDATES, AND ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF MATERIALS CHANGES ON KEY PERFORMANCE INDICES. THE SCOPE OF PROPERTIES WILL INCLUDE MIL-HDBK-5 DESIGN ALLOWABLES, FRACTURE TOUGHNESS, FATIGUE AND CORROSION RESISTANCE, AS WELL AS GUIDELINES FROM APPROPRIATE AEROSPACE SPECIFICATIONS; MATERIALS WILL INCLUDE ALUMINUM AND TITANIUM ALLOYS, PLUS A FEW STEELS. IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A COMPUTERIZED INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM (PHASE III) SHOULD GREATLY INCREASE THE EVALUATION AND INTRODUCTION OF ADVANCED MATERIALS INTO AEROSPACE STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS, AND SHOULD BE READILY EXPANDABLE TO OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCY AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATONS.