Modelling of Engineering Thermal Problems: An Implementation using CBR with Derivational Analogy

Abstract

An interactive cased based reasoning tool for assisting engineers with the mathematical modelling tasks associated with the analysis of thermal problems is described. By representing fundamental thermal modelling scenarios as cases, complex physical systems are modelled in a piecewise fashion by successive application of matching cases. Retrieval is based on the use of qualitative indices, derivational analogy allows for generative adaption of retrieved cases, thereby providing a basis for validating cases in the context of the problem under consideration. This work represents an alternative perspective to model based reasoning approaches that have been applied to model generation to date.