A fuzzy shape database to support conceptual design

At the conceptual stage of design, designers only have vague ideas of initial shapes which they gradually refine. These imprecise shapes may be specified by a set of fuzzy shape descriptors which represent the intent of a designer. It is also desirable to be able to save them in a database for future reference or for use as initial shapes for new designs. Most research on fuzzy databases has been focused on theoretical aspects while a fuzzy database is rarely seen in practice, especially in the design area. This paper aims to construct a fuzzy shape database to support shape design by integrating fuzzy data processing and fuzzy querying functions into a conventional database. A possibility-based framework is used for a fuzzy relational database model.