The evolution of computer aided design (CAD) systems
and related technologies has promoted the development of
software for the automatic configuration of mechanical
systems. This occurred with the introduction of knowledge
aided engineering (KAE) systems that enable computers to
support the designer during the decision-making process.
This paper presents a knowledge-based application that
allows the designer to automatically compute and evaluate
mass properties of racing cars. The system is constituted
by two main components: the computing core, which determines
the car model, and the graphic user interface, because
of which the system may be used also by nonprogrammers.
The computing core creates the model of the car based on
a tree structure, which contains all car subsystems (e.g.,
suspension and chassis). Different part–subpart relationships
define the tree model and link an object (e.g., suspension)
to its components (e.g., wishbones and wheel). The definition
of independent parameters (including design variables)
and relationships definition allows the model to configure
itself by evaluating all properties related to dimension,
position, mass, etc. The graphic user interface allows
the end user to interact with the car model by editing
independent design parameters. It visualizes the main outputs
of the model, which consist in numeric data (mass, center
of mass of both the car and its subsystems) and graphic
elements (car and subsystems 3D representation).
