Family cars´ life cycle cost estimation method based-on CBR and data warehouse

Design for cost (DFC) is a method that reduces life cycle cost (LCC) at design stage. From the angle of DFC, family cars´ LCC data warehouse was established. It includes 300 thousand plus records about 3500 car models in last 26 months. Car´s body structure, exhaust quantity, engine type, size(length, height, width), weight, transmission type, maximum speed, maximum power, maximum twisting moment/ torque, actuating feature, fuel grade, wheelbase, listing year were included in the data warehouse. Gasoline price and car´s price were also included. At conceptual design stage, cars´ LCC were estimated using case-based reasoning (CBR) method. Using decision tree classification algorithm based on information entropy sort cars´ attributes value. Then using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), weights of cars´ attributes are obtained. Finally, an example was given. Canberra distance and weights algorithm were used to measure the similarity among those cases. It is meaningful for raising estimation accuracy.