Reference: Fruchter, R.; Iwasaki, Y.; & Law, K. H. Generating Qualitative Models for Structural Engineering Analysis and Design. Washington, D.C., 1991.
Abstract: Understanding the behavior of a structure and its components at an early stage of design is important in reducing the possibility of costly design revision at a later stage. We propose a framework for qualitative structural analysis based on combining first principles of structural behavior with experiential knowledge about structural interpretation. The paper discusses the following issues: (1)representation of structures, fundamental principles, and experiential knowledge, (2) generation of various models of the structure for the purpose of analyzing its behavior, and (3) a method for qualitative analysis using these models. The purpose of the qualitative analysis is to infer the qualitative response of a given structure, expressed by a qualitative deflected shape, moments, and reactions. The reasoning strategy is described as the "greedy" algorithm that tries to expand the response behavior as much as possible from known parameter values.