With the advent and rapid development of the computer-aided design, the process planning and the manufacturing in design, the ever-increasing amount of the design information poses both challenges and opportunities for an efficient information and knowledge management. The ontology provides a feasible, effective and rich information modeling concept. This paper reviewed the ontology applications in the design engineering. The applications of the ontology fall generally into five related research issues and future research developments are extensively discussed.

ontology  /  design engineering  /  design information  /  information management  /  knowledge management