Redesigning the design process through interactive simulation: A case study of life-cycle engineering in jet engine conceptual design

Many aerospace companies are currently making the transition to providing fully-integrated product-service offerings in which their products are designed from the outset with life-cycle considerations in mind. Based on a case study at Rolls-Royce, Civil Aerospace, this paper demonstrates how an interactive approach to process simulation can be used to support the redesign of existing design processes in order to incorporate life-cycle engineering (LCE) considerations. The case study provides insights into the problems of redesigning the conceptual stages of a complex, concurrent engineering design process and the practical value of process simulation as a tool to support the specification of process changes in the context of engineering design. The paper also illustrates how development of a simulation model can provide significant benefit to companies through the understanding of process behaviour that is gained through validating the behaviour of the model using different design and iteration scenarios. Keywords: jet engine design; life-cycle engineering; LCE; process change; design process simulation; applied signposting model; ASM. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

From design characteristics to system requirements

This report presents the stepwise development of requirements for a process-based design support system aimed at improving the engineering design process. The starting point was the set of characteristics identified in three sources: models of design processes in prescriptive literature; empirical studies of design in descriptive literature; and a case-study in industry. All identified characteristics and derived requirements are listed in this report.

Improvements in interface design through implicit modeling

Touchscreen devices are often limited by the complexity of their user interface design. In the past, iterative design processes using representative user groups to test prototypes were the standard method for increasing the inclusivity of a given design, but cognitive modeling has potential to be an alternative to rigorous user testing. However, these modeling approaches currently have many limitations, some of which are based on the assumptions made in translating a User Interface (UI) into a definition file that cognitive modeling frameworks can process. This paper discusses these issues and postulates potential approaches to improvements to the translation procedure. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

An investigation of higher-order multi-objective optimisation for 3D aerodynamic shape design

We investigate the performance of different variants of a suitably tailored Tabu Search optimisation algorithm on a higher-order design problem. We consider four objective func- tions to describe the performance of a compressor stator row, subject to a number of equality and inequality constraints. The same design problem has been previously in- vestigated through single-, bi- and three-objective optimisation studies. However, in this study we explore the capabilities of enhanced variants of our Multi-objective Tabu Search (MOTS) optimisation algorithm in the context of detailed 3D aerodynamic shape design. It is shown that with these enhancements to the local search of the MOTS algorithm we can achieve a rapid exploration of complicated design spaces, but there is a trade-off be- tween speed and the quality of the trade-off surface found. Rapidly explored design spaces reveal the extremes of the objective functions, but the compromise optimum areas are not very well explored. However, there are ways to adapt the behaviour of the optimiser and maintain both a very efficient rate of progress towards the global optimum Pareto front and a healthy number of design configurations lying on the trade-off surface and exploring the compromise optimum regions. These compromise solutions almost always represent the best qualitative balance between the objectives under consideration. Such enhancements to the effectiveness of design space exploration make engineering design optimisation with multiple objectives and robustness criteria ever more practicable and attractive for modern advanced engineering design. Finally, new research questions are addressed that highlight the trade-offs between intelligence in optimisation algorithms and acquisition of qualita- tive information through computational engineering design processes that reveal patterns and relations between design parameters and objective functions, but also speed versus optimum quality. © 2012 AIAA.

A conceptual framework for future-proofing the energy performance of buildings

This paper presents a review undertaken to understand the concept of 'future-proofing' the energy performance of buildings. The long lifecycles of the building stock, the impacts of climate change and the requirements for low carbon development underline the need for long-term thinking from the early design stages. 'Future-proofing' is an emerging research agenda with currently no widely accepted definition amongst scholars and building professionals. In this paper, it refers to design processes that accommodate explicitly full lifecycle perspectives and energy trends and drivers by at least 2050, when selecting energy efficient measures and low carbon technologies. A knowledge map is introduced, which explores the key axes (or attributes) for achieving a 'future-proofed' energy design; namely, coverage of sustainability issues, lifecycle thinking, and accommodating risks and uncertainties that affect the energy consumption. It is concluded that further research is needed so that established building energy assessment methods are refined to better incorporate future-proofing. The study follows an interdisciplinary approach and is targeted at design teams with aspirations to achieve resilient and flexible low-energy buildings over the long-term. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.