| Axiomatic Design has been applied and developed as a tool, offering a scientific basis for design and improving design activities. Axiomatic Design has been used in various fields such as software system design, structure design, and product design. However, several challenges and limitations exist in Axiomatic Design including: the inconsistency in identifying design parameters, existence of coupled design, and multiple groups of functional requirements and design parameters. Aimed at using Axiomatic Design to generate conceptual solutions in engineering design while overcoming its limitations, a formal ontology is developed. The ontology defines functional requirements, design parameters, concepts, components and variables and their relationships. Axioms and rules of the Axiomatic Design ontology are discussed and summarized, which helps users understand the design issue deeply. The Axiomatic Design ontology is demonstrated to the car seat design as an example. Specific axioms and rules are generated and analyzed while the classes of concepts and components are built. With the help of the Axiomatic Design ontology and its axioms and rules, several example concepts are generated and then compared and analyzed. The Axiomatic Design ontology provides numerous design concepts and potentially helps users increase their creativity. The Axiomatic Design ontology allows coupling system to exist as the possible solutions. Besides, other factors need to be considered and other tools are necessary for evaluating design solutions. |
