The paper presents an implementation for computer-aided design with dimensional parameters. The approach is based on the use of an expert system to uncouple constraint equations, and to find a possible sequence for the computation of the geometric elements for given dimension values. A set of rules for the expert system is described that solves the problem for 2D designs. The method is illustrated on an example design.

International audienceIn this paper we present different approaches occurring in recent literature to solve the problem of parametrizing mechanical designs by dimensions. We describe the approaches showing their advantages and their drawbacks. We conclude that the reviewed approaches each have different strengths. It is proposed that a method should be investigated which would combine valuable properties of the AI approaches along with the benefits of the global approach