Understanding engineering systems through the engineering knowledge genome: Structural genes of systems topologies

The design of contemporary products requires knowledge from diverse disciplines. Presently, there is very little common denominator among engineering disciplines. This state of affairs is hurting practice, potentially leading to failures. Similar to the knowledge genome in biology, we briefly present the concept of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Knowledge Genome (IEKG) as a foundation for integrating engineering disciplines. We review the concepts of genes as abstract entities that provide the same functionality in different disciplines. In addition, we present a new type of gene -structural system gene-that serves as a building block from which well-constrained systems in diverse disciplines could be, and are constructed. We illustrate how these genes are used to compose all possible determinate trusses; how they are used to support the analysis of linkages; the assessment of trusses rigidity and the construction of sketches from well-constrained graphs. Each of these illustrations is a contribution in its own right in its particular discipline, yet they are derived from the same genes. These results demonstrate the power of the IEKG, as a theoretical construct, to engineering design. Further benefits could be obtained by incorporating additional disciplines into the IEKG, discovery of new genes, and enrichment of systems and method genes in a bootstrapping fashion. Other approaches that draw upon, or are applied to, multiple disciplines such as graph grammar and Bond graphs could also benefit from the advent of the IEKG.