Research in engineering design: The role of mathematical theory and empirical evidence

Frey, Daniel D., Herder, Paulien M., Wijnia, Ype, Subrahmanian, Eswaran, Katsikopoulos, Konstantinos, De Neufville, Richard, Oye, Ken and Clausing, Don P. (2010) Research in engineering design: The role of mathematical theory and empirical evidence. Research in Engineering Design, 21 (3), 145-151. (doi:10.1007/s00163-010-0085-2).

Abstract

Daniel D. Frey and co-authors have written a paper titled, 'The Pugh Controlled Convergence method' in response to Dr. Hazelrigg's letter on the engineering design issue. The primary point of the paper is that decision-making (analysis) and alternative generation (synthesis) have significant interactions that should be modeled if one is to evaluate design methodologies. The paper provides specific mechanisms to encourage the development of new design concepts as evaluation of the extant concepts proceeds. The Decision Based Design framework as described by Hazelrigg excludes generation of alternatives and therefore fails to address the empirically given problem of engineering design. The claims made in Frey are open to empirical testing by the design research community. On a related issue, in the Pugh method cited in Frey, when a design alternative is eliminated or a single design is finally chosen, that is a documentation of what the people involved decided based on the evidence and their discussions thereof. By contrast, Hazelrigg's example presents what he calls the Pugh preferred design.

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Contributors

Author: Konstantinos Katsikopoulos

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