Similarity and Adaptation Concepts

The quality of a solution to a problem in case-based design support is highly dependent on the representation of the design artefact and the comparison of design situations based on their similarity. The design case is represented as comparable with past experiences. It is also stated that the design of any complex chemical process or a new chemical product can be considered at various abstraction levels. In order to support the design activity, at any particular stage the representation of the design situation or artefact must be task independent. A comparison of different design cases requires a clear statement of similarity. Similarity assessment has to proceed over complex representation of design case. The design data may include many data models that require a flexible combination of similarity measurements. In this work a general concept of similarity that can cope with various formats of design data has been developed. Uniform representation of the data of the solution and problem parts of the cases and applying a similarity concept for solutions leads to an original idea of adaptation which is task independent as well. This chapter describes both the similarity and adaptation concepts.