Comparative Evaluation of Engineering Design Concepts Based on Non-Linear Substructuring Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. 15-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mladenko Kajtaz ◽  
Aleksandar Subic ◽  
Monir Takla
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Structural Behaviour ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
Non Linear

The paper presents a novel approach to comparative evaluation of engineering design concepts that exhibit non-linear structural behaviour under load. The developed method has extended the substructures technique in order to apply the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method to complex non-linear structural problems in the conceptual design phase. As conventional FE models based on substructures allow only linear analysis, it was necessary in this research to introduce a new algorithm capable of linearizing non-linear structural problems with sufficient accuracy in order to enable comparative evaluation of design concepts relative to each other under the given constraints and loading conditions. A comparative study with respect to model size, efficiency, accuracy and confidence was performed to validate the developed method. Obtained results indicate significant improvement over more traditional approaches to applying FEA in the conceptual design phase. The improvements achieved using the developed method compared to the traditional FE based approach are superior by a factor of 2.7 in efficiency and by a factor of 4.5 in confidence while not sacrificing the optimality of the solutions.

scholarly journals An Immersive VR Application for Interactive Product Concept Generation and Qualitative Evaluation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Noon ◽  
Ruqin Zhang ◽  
Eliot Winer ◽  
Jim Oliver ◽  
Brian Gilmore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase

Currently, new product concepts are evaluated by developing detailed virtual models with Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools followed by evaluation analyses (e.g., finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, etc.). Due to the complexity of these evaluation methods, it is generally not possible to model and analyze each of the ideas generated throughout the conceptual design phase of the design process. Thus, promising ideas may be eliminated based solely on insufficient time to model and assess them. Additionally, the analysis performed is usually of much higher detail than needed for such early assessment. By eliminating the time-consuming CAD complexity, engineers could spend more time evaluating additional concepts. To address these issues, a software framework, the Advanced Systems Design Suite (ASDS), was created. The ASDS incorporates a PC user interface with an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment to ease the creation and assessment of conceptual design prototypes individually or collaboratively in a VR environment. Assessment tools incorporate metamodeling approximations and immersive visualization to evaluate the validity of each concept. In this paper, the ASDS framework and interface along with specifically designed immersive VR assessment tools such as state saving, dynamic viewpoint creation, and animation playback are presented alongside a test case example of redesigning a Boeing 777 in the conceptual design phase.

AN EXTENDED SUBSTRUCTURING TECHNIQUE FOR EFFICIENT EVALUATION OF NONLINEAR LOAD-BEARING STRUCTURES IN THE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STAGE

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (06) ◽  
pp. 1350086 ◽  
Author(s):  
MLADENKO KAJTAZ ◽  
ALEKSANDAR SUBIC ◽  
MONIR TAKLA
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Nonlinear Load ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Conceptual Design Stage ◽  
Nonlinear Structural ◽  
The Finite Element Analysis

The research presented in this paper has extended the substructuring technique into the nonlinear domain in order to apply the finite element analysis (FEA) method to complex nonlinear structural design problems in the conceptual design stage. As conventional FE models based on substructures allow only linear analysis, it was necessary in this research to introduce a new algorithm capable of linearizing nonlinear structural problems with sufficient accuracy in order to enable evaluation of engineering design concepts in a more objective and rigorous manner in the early stages of design. The developed method was implemented within a commercial FE solver, and validated using a select number of case studies. The results obtained for the two sample solutions indicate that the new method has achieved an improvement in accuracy of 90% and 98% respectively compared to the conventional FE-based approach applied to the same class of design problems.

The Part Count Tool (PACT) for Concept Selection

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarang Parashar ◽  
Katie Grantham Lough ◽  
Robert B. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Manufacturing Cost ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Product Concept ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Component Type ◽  
The Cost

This paper presents a part count tool that automates the consideration of manufacturing cost during the conceptual design phase by predicting part count for a particular product concept. With an approximate number of parts per product in the conceptual design phase, the designer can estimate the cost associated with the product. On the basis of the cost, the designer can make changes according to budget requirements. The part count tool will also aid in ranking the design concepts by number of components for a product. This tool utilizes existing automated concept generation algorithms to generate the design concepts. It extracts the available data from the Missouri S&T Design Repository to compute an average number of parts per component type in the repository and then calculates an average part count for new concepts. This data can subsequently be used by designers to estimate product cost. The part count tool also uses an algorithm to determine how to connect two non compatible components through the addition of mutually compatible components. While emphasis is placed on the average parts per product in evaluating designs, the overall functional requirement of the product is also considered.

Contrasting Function With Affordance in Design for Additive Manufacturing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunwoong Ko ◽  
Seung Ki Moon
Keyword(s):  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
User Centric ◽  
Design Freedom ◽  
Mass Personalization

Additive Manufacturing (AM)’s advance from rapid prototyping to the end-of-use products inevitably challenges conventional design theories and methodologies. Especially while adopting systematic engineering design methodologies to design for AM (DfAM), it is essential to develop new design methods that explore the new design space enabled by AM’s design freedom from the early design stage. To address the challenge, this study provides a new design framework and a design method for modeling AM-enabled product behaviors in the conceptual design phase of DfAM. Firstly, this study contrasts function-based methods with affordance-based methods. The device-centric, form independent and input/output-based transformative properties of the function-based methods such as function decompositions have strengths in modeling product’s internal behaviors. However, the function-based methods show limitations in the new area of AM-enabled mass personalization which requires design approaches for representing user-centric structural design requirements acquired only by AM’s design freedom. On the other hand, the affordance-based methods can address the function-based methods in DfAM due to their user-centric (artifact-user interactive), form dependent and non-transformative properties. After the contradiction, we propose an affordance-based DfAM framework and an affordance structure as a formal modeling technique for AM-enabled personalized product behaviors. A case study of a trans-tibial prosthesis socket provides an illustration in this study. The contribution of the study is in developing a design method for the conceptual design phase of DfAM that fulfills the objectives of achieving AM-enabled mass personalization with systematic engineering design approaches.

scholarly journals Dealing With the Combinatorial Explosion of the Morphological Matrix in a “Manual Engineering Design” Context

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Motte ◽  
Robert Bjärnemo
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Combinatorial Explosion ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
Original Number ◽  
Automated Search

The morphological matrix is an important element of the engineering design methodology and is present in many textbooks. This method originally aimed at generating an exhaustive set of solutions for a given problem, by decomposing it into subproblems, finding solutions to each subproblem, and combining them. One issue associated with the morphological matrix has been the necessity to deal with the combinatorial explosions of solutions, especially at the conceptual design phase, when the still fuzzy nature of the design problem precludes the use of automated search for an optimal solution by means of specific algorithms (the “manual engineering design” context), apart from a few exceptions. Several heuristics based on the reduction of the number of combinations are investigated, and their efficiency is assessed. It is showed that the often-recommended compatibility matrix heuristic is the least efficient and can result in overlooking potentially interesting combinations. In fact all heuristics, even combined, generally fail to decrease the number of combinations to a level that can be handled by the designers, unless the original number of combinations is low. However, if one abandons the principle of an exhaustive investigation of the combinations in order to find the “best” solution, it can be showed statistically that the probability of ending up with a “good” concept among a very large number of combinations can be attained. Moreover, it is showed that the number of combinations one is willing to investigate also can contribute to increase this probability. Moreover the experience gained from the first round of investigation can serve as a guide to choose and assess other combinations. Based on those results, some recommendations for using the morphological matrix with all the different heuristics are given. Moreover, this paper discusses and relativizes the importance of the combinatorial explosion issue of morphological matrix compared with some other advantages and shortcomings of the method.

Applying Function-Based Failure Propagation in Conceptual Design

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Krus ◽  
Katie Grantham Lough
Keyword(s):  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Thermal Control ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
Failure Propagation ◽  
Potential Risks

When designing a product, the earlier the potential risks can be identified, the more costs can be saved, as it is easier to modify a design in its early stages. Several methods exist to analyze the risk in a system, but all require a mature design. However, by applying the concept of “common interfaces” to a functional model and utilizing a historical knowledge base, it is possible to analyze chains of failures during the conceptual phase of product design. This paper presents a method based on these “common interfaces” to be used in conjunction with other methods such as Risk in Early Design in order to allow a more complete risk analysis during the conceptual design phase. Finally, application of this method is demonstrated in a design setting by applying it to a thermal control subsystem.

Variantenreiche Fabrikplanung*/Variant-based factory planning - Automatically generated simulation models to support factory engineering

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (09) ◽  
pp. 640-646
Author(s):  
J. Jaensch ◽  
A. Neyrinck ◽  
A. Lechler ◽  
A. Prof. Verl
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Factory Planning ◽  
Cycle Times ◽  
Automated Generation ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase

Maschinen und besonders Anlagen werden meist in individuellen Prozessen entwickelt. Bereits in der Angebots- und Konzeptionsphase werden im direkten Austausch mit dem Auftraggeber unterschiedliche Varianten diskutiert und iteriert. Zur Bewertung der Varianten sind neben den Anschaffungskosten unter anderem laufzeitabhängige Größen wie Taktzeiten und Energieeffizienz zu untersuchen. Der Beitrag stellt einen Ansatz zur simulationsbasierten Untersuchung für die automatisierte Variantengenerierung von Anlagen vor.   The development of machines or plants is a very individual process. Within the conceptual design phase, many different variants have to be discussed with customers and adapted to their needs. For a decent evaluation of the different variants, many parameters beyond static values such as costs are important. Term-dependent values like cycle times and energy efficiency also have to be investigated. This paper presents a method for the automated generation of plant variants based on simulation.

A framework for automatic architectural synthesis in conceptual design phase

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 665-689
Author(s):  
C. Hartmann ◽  
R. Chenouard ◽  
E. Mermoz ◽  
A. Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
Architectural Synthesis
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