Babuska, VitThe objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the applicability of expert systems in helicopter conceptual design by developing an expert assistant which aids the engineer in defining a feasible design configuration. The expert assistant combines some experiential knowledge of the design engineer with a typical conceptual design algorithm to guide the engineer to a reasonable baseline design. The expert assistant was developed on a personal computer using the expert system shell INSIGHT2+®. The design algorithm employed is SSPl, a helicopter weight and sizing program developed at the US Army Applied Technologies Laboratory. A set of heuristic rules was developed which attempts to simulate the thinking of an expert design engineer using SSP1 for helicopter conceptual design. The result, a Prototype expert assistant which aids an engineer in the conceptual design phase, demonstrates the feasibility of expert systems in helicopter design.en-USThesis