scholarly journals Design Margins as a Key to Understanding Design Iteration

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia M. Eckert ◽  
Ola Isaksson ◽  
Chris F. Earl
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Engineering Change ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Iteration ◽  
Temperature Ranges ◽  
Parameter Values

Design processes are subject to many uncertainties. Changes resulting from the need to respond to external uncertainties are one of the main drivers of engineering change and therefore for iteration in design processes. Another important cause of iteration in design processes arises from the dependencies in design information which is being generated as part of the design process itself. At the beginning of the design process engineers need to make an informed guess about the values of parameters that they need and can achieve. These values are passed on to others, who base their decisions on them. Design decisions are distributed and iterative among design teams, customers and suppliers. Communicated parameter values are uncertain in two different but related ways. First, there is the confidence, precision and commitment that the designers have in the values they specify. Second there are uncertainties in the values that can be achieved with the technology the new design employs. These issues become particularly challenging when they span design teams, customers and suppliers as they iterate to converge on a mutually effective solution. This paper looks at this type of convergent iteration through an example from the aerospace industry, which illustrates how uncertainty in operating temperature at the beginning of the design process requires a thorough understanding of the temperature ranges that solution alternatives, at different degrees of maturity, can operate under. This paper argues that the key to managing convergent iterations lies in communicating the available ranges of parameter values and in understanding how design margins have arisen in existing technologies. These margins on product parameters provide potential performance which exceeds immediate functional requirements. The paper develops and formalizes the concept of design margins and argues that margins are included into products for a variety of reasons that are not always transparent to different team members. Analysis of margins enables design companies to reason in terms of ranges of values describing the scope for design change in meeting customer and supplier requirements without being forced into unplanned iteration loops.

Integral Design: The Reflective Morphological Overview

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Zeiler ◽  
Perica Savanovic ◽  
Emile Quanjel
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Dutch Association ◽  
Building Physics

Integral Building Design is done by multi disciplinary design teams and aims at integrating all aspects from the different disciplines involved in a design for a building such as; archtitecture, construction, building physics and building services. It involves information exchange between participants within the design process in amounts not yet known before. To support this highly complex process an Integral Building Design methods is developed based on the combination of a prescriptive approach, Methodical Design, and a descriptive approach, Reflective practice. Starting from the Methodical Design approach by van den Kroonenberg, a more reflective approach is developed. The use of Integral Design within the design process results in a transparency on the taken design steps and the design decisions. Within the design process, the extended prescriptive methodology is used as a framework for reflection on design process itself. To ensure a good information exchange between different disciplines during the conceptual phase of design a functional structuring technique can be used; Morphological Overviews (MO). Morphology provides a structure to give an overview of the consider functions and their solution alternatives. By using this method it is presumed that it helps to structure the communication between the design team members and a such forms a basis for reflection on the design results by the design team members. This method is used in the education program at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and was tested in workshops for students and for professionals from the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (BNA) and the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers (ONRI). Over 250 professionals participated in these workshops.

Classification of Iteration in Engineering Design Processes

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Safoutin ◽  
Robert P. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Design Automation ◽  
Automated Design ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Standard Definition ◽  
Design Iteration ◽  
Formal Study ◽  
Poor Understanding

Abstract As engineering design is subjected to increasingly formal study, an informal attitude continues to surround the topic of iteration. Today there is no standard definition or typology of iteration, no grounding theory, few metrics, and a poor understanding of its role in the design process. Existing literature provides little guidance in investigating issues of design that might be best approached in terms of iteration. We review contributions of existing literature toward the understanding of iteration in design, develop a classification of design iteration, compare iterative aspects of human and automated design, and draw some conclusions concerning management of iteration and approaches to design automation.

Investigating the Use of Large-Scale Immersive Computing Environments in Collaborative Design

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meisha Rosenberg ◽  
Judy M. Vance
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
3D Cad ◽  
Cad Models ◽  
Computing Environments ◽  
Design Ideas ◽  
Human Motions

Successful collaborative design requires in-depth communication between experts from different disciplines. Many design decisions are made based on a shared mental model and understanding of key features and functions before the first prototype is built. Large-Scale Immersive Computing Environments (LSICEs) provide the opportunity for teams of experts to view and interact with 3D CAD models using natural human motions to explore potential design configurations. This paper presents the results of a class exercise where student design teams used an LSICE to examine their design ideas and make decisions during the design process. The goal of this research is to gain an understanding of (1) whether the decisions made by the students are improved by full-scale visualizations of their designs in LSICEs, (2) how the use of LSICEs affect the communication of students with collaborators and clients, and (3) how the interaction methods provided in LSICEs affect the design process. The results of this research indicate that the use of LSICEs improves communication among design team members.

Informing sustainable building design

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Landgren ◽  
Signe Skovmand Jakobsen ◽  
Birthe Wohlenberg ◽  
Lotte Bjerregaard Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Sustainable Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interdisciplinary Design

Purpose In recent decades there has been a focus on reducing the overall emissions from the built environment, which increases the complexity of the building design process. More specialized knowledge, a greater common understanding and more cooperation between the stakeholders are required. Interdisciplinary design teams need simple and intuitive means of communication. Architects and engineers are starting to increase their focus on improving interdisciplinary communication, but it is often unclear how to do so. The purpose of this paper is to define the impact of visually communicating engineering knowledge to architects in an interdisciplinary design team and to define how quantifying architectural design decisions have an impact during the early phases of sustainable building design. Design/methodology/approach This work is based on a study of extensive project materials consisting of presentations, reports, simulation results and case studies. The material is made available by one of the largest European Engineering Consultancies and by a large architectural office in the field of sustainable architecture in Denmark. The project material is used for mapping communication concepts from practice. Findings It is demonstrated that visual communication by engineers increases the level of technical knowledge in the design decisions made by architects. This is essential in order to reach the goal of designing buildings with low environmental impact. Conversely, quantification of architectural quality improved the engineer’s acceptance of the architects’ proposals. Originality/value This paper produces new knowledge through the case study processes performed. The main points are presented as clearly as possible; however, it should be stressed that it is only the top of the iceberg. In all, 17 extensive case studies design processes were performed with various design teams by the 3 authors of the paper Mathilde, Birthe and Signe. The companies that provided the framework for the cases are leading in Europe within sustainability in the built environment, and in the case of Sweco also in regards to size (number of employees). Data are thus first hand and developed by the researchers and authors of this paper, with explicit consent from the industry partners involved as well as assoc. Professor Lotte B. Jensen Technical University of Denmark (DTU). This material is in the DTU servers and is in the PhD dissertation by Mathilde Landgren (successful defence was in January 2019). The observations and reflection is presented in selected significant case examples. The methods are descriped in detail, and if further information on method is required a more in depth description is found in Mathilde Landgrens PhD Dissertation. There is a lack in existing literature of the effect of visualisation in interdisciplinary design teams and though the literature (e.g. guidelines) of integrated design is extensive, there is not much published on this essential part of an integrated design process.

Managing Design Process Complexity: A Value-of-Information Based Approach for Scale and Decision Decoupling

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitesh H. Panchal ◽  
Christiaan J. J. Paredis ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
A Value ◽  
Complex Design ◽  
The Impact

Design processes for multiscale, multifunctional systems are inherently complex due to the interactions between scales, functional requirements, and the resulting design decisions. While complex design processes that consider all interactions lead to better designs; simpler design processes where some interactions are ignored are faster and resource efficient. In order to determine the right level of simplification of design processes, designers are faced with the following questions: a) how should complex design-processes be simplified without affecting the resulting product performance? and b) how can designers quantify and evaluate the appropriateness of different design process alternatives? In this paper, the first question is addressed by introducing a method for determining the appropriate level of simplification of design processes — specifically through decoupling of scales and decisions in a multiscale problem. The method is based on three constructs: interaction patterns to model design processes, intervals to model uncertainty resulting from decoupling of scales and decisions, and value of information based metrics to measure the impact of simplification on the final design outcome. The second question is addressed by introducing a value-of-information based metric called improvement potential for quantifying the appropriateness of design process alternatives from the standpoint of product design requirements. The metric embodies quantitatively the potential for improvement in the achievement of product requirements by adding more information for design decision making. The method is illustrated via a datacenter cooling system design example.

scholarly journals Systems Engineering – The Hard Way

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
A R Edmondson ◽  
B Twomey
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Ship Design ◽  
Life Safety ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Safety Case ◽  
Marine Vessels

Ship designers, builders, owners, insurers and class societies are becoming ever more aware of the complex interactions of the various systems found on all types of marine vessels. Therefore a design process that acknowledges these demands and assesses the risks posed, and manages them becomes ever more important. This paper seeks to explore some of the, sometimes apparently, conflicting requirements that are placed on designs of new marine platforms and looks at methods that enable these elements to be expressed, understood and managed in the context of an integrated ship design. The demands placed on new vessels include a range of requirements that move away from being solely based around the traditional functional requirements; including the ideas of designing for ease of shipbuilders, operators and maintainers; and now acknowledging the need of a through life safety case, cyber security case, and full obsolescence planning. This becomes ever more complex when consideration is given to how these through life elements are practically managed, with a range of methods, none of which are without their own challenges. It is important to note as these demands are discussed that often a ‘solution’ in the truest sense does not exist and the management of risk becomes a balance between the expected risk, the practicable solution, along with the potential compromises to both programmes and cost. While these demands place huge constraints and drive complexity into design processes, the issues can, and regularly have, been further exacerbated when some of these, or other requirements, are introduced into the design or build phases of projects. Introduction of design drivers should not be undertaken lightly or without expected, and accepted, increases in required resources, both financial and calendrical.

Making Process Visible: A Grammatical Approach to Managing Design Processes

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon Jung Chung ◽  
Patrick Kwon ◽  
Brian T. Pentland
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Complex Activity ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Improve Design ◽  
Overall Design ◽  
Process Specification ◽  
Current Design ◽  
Alternative Processes

This paper presents a novel framework for managing design processes using a formal grammar as the theoretical foundation to represent, manipulate and execute design processes. The grammatical approach allows designers to represent a complex activity concisely with a small number of higher-level tasks and to explore alternative processes within a space of feasible alternatives. These capabilities allow the engineers to “visualize” the design process so that they can fully understand the alternative methods before making any design decisions. The framework, called MIDAS, includes separate layers for process specification and execution. Using the process specification layer, designers can capture the overall design process and each designer can understand his or her task with respect to the whole design process. In the process execution layer, design tasks are executed according to the information in specification layer so that designers can be informed of the current design status, alternative design methods, and their impacts in a whole design process. The framework has the potential to improve design productivity by accessing, reusing, and revising previous processes for a similar design. We use a gearbox design process to demonstrate the framework.

Understanding the Context of Multidisciplinary Design: Establishing Ecological Validity in the Study of Design Problem Solving

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (16) ◽  
pp. 1082-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. McNeese ◽  
Brian S. Zaff ◽  
Clifford E. Brown ◽  
Maryalice Citera ◽  
Jonathan Selvaraj
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Activities

The need to understand the design process in all its complexity is motivated by an interest in the development of tools and technologies that would be capable of aiding collaborative design teams. This development effort depends upon an understanding of design activities as they occur within a real world context. Observations of design activities that are made without direct communication with the design team members may fail to capture many of the subtler aspects of the process - aspects that are best understood when described by the design team members themselves. In order to supplement observational studies, this paper presents a case study in which a dialog with members of a variety of collaborative design teams was established in order to elicit information about the nature of collaborative design. A knowledge acquisition technique, concept mapping, was used to achieve an understanding of the role of human factors specialists within the collaborative design process specific to the Air Force's system acquisition program. Results highlight various findings about the nature of design problem solving such as the way different organizational settings influence human factors input in the design process/product. The paper discusses the usefulness of concept mapping to capture in-depth design knowledge and how this type of knowledge complements other approaches to understanding design.

A strategy for multiprofessional design of buildings

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Manning
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Process Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Mechanical Systems ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Systematic Design ◽  
Design Decisions

The conventional way by which buildings are designed is for the specialist members of design teams (structural, mechanical, electrical, and other engineers, acousticians, and others) to develop in detail the comprehensive concepts of generalists. Thus, architects first develop overall scheme designs, after which consultant engineers and others develop specific subdesigns for the structures, mechanical systems, lighting, and so on that will make that particular overall scheme work. There are some important objections to this kind of process, not the least the handicap that is thus placed upon the input of the engineering and other consultants. A "three-axis design strategy" by which, from the earliest stages of a design problem, solutions are built up from the best common compatible options of all the contributing consultants is described. Key words: building design, systematic design methods, design strategy, multiprofessional, integration, design process, design decisions.

Managing Design-Process Complexity: A Value-of-Information Based Approach for Scale and Decision Decoupling

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitesh H. Panchal ◽  
Christiaan J. J. Paredis ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
A Value ◽  
Complex Design ◽  
The Impact

Design-processes for multiscale, multifunctional systems are inherently complex due to the interactions between scales, functional requirements, and the resulting design decisions. While complex design-processes that consider all interactions lead to better designs, simpler design-processes where some interactions are ignored are faster and resource efficient. In order to determine the right level of simplification of design-processes, designers are faced with the following questions: (a) How should complex design-processes be simplified without affecting the resulting product performance? (b) How can designers quantify and evaluate the appropriateness of different design-process alternatives? In this paper, the first question is addressed by introducing a method for determining the appropriate level of simplification of design-processes—specifically through decoupling of scales and decisions in a multiscale problem. The method is based on three constructs: interaction patterns to model design-processes, intervals to model uncertainty resulting from decoupling of scales and decisions, and value-of-information based metrics to measure the impact of simplification on the final design outcome. The second question is addressed by introducing a value-of-information based metric called the improvement potential for quantifying the appropriateness of design-process alternatives from the standpoint of product design requirements. The metric embodies quantitatively the potential for improvement in the achievement of product requirements by adding more information for design decision-making. The method is illustrated via a datacenter cooling system design example.

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