Showing papers on "Conceptual design published in 2020"

A review of concepts, benefits, and challenges for future electrical propulsion-based aircraft

Abstract: Electrification of the propulsion system has opened the door to a new paradigm of propulsion system configurations and novel aircraft designs, which was never envisioned before. Despite lofty promises, the concept must overcome the design and sizing challenges to make it realizable. A suitable modeling framework is desired in order to explore the design space at the conceptual level. A greater investment in enabling technologies, and infrastructural developments, is expected to facilitate its successful application in the market. In this review paper, several scholarly articles were surveyed to get an insight into the current landscape of research endeavors and the formulated derivations related to electric aircraft developments. The barriers and the needed future technological development paths are discussed. The paper also includes detailed assessments of the implications and other needs pertaining to future technology, regulation, certification, and infrastructure developments, in order to make the next generation electric aircraft operation commercially worthy.

EuPRAXIA Conceptual Design Report

Abstract: This report presents the conceptual design of a new European research infrastructure EuPRAXIA. The concept has been established over the last four years in a unique collaboration of 41 laboratories within a Horizon 2020 design study funded by the European Union. EuPRAXIA is the first European project that develops a dedicated particle accelerator research infrastructure based on novel plasma acceleration concepts and laser technology. It focuses on the development of electron accelerators and underlying technologies, their user communities, and the exploitation of existing accelerator infrastructures in Europe. EuPRAXIA has involved, amongst others, the international laser community and industry to build links and bridges with accelerator science — through realising synergies, identifying disruptive ideas, innovating, and fostering knowledge exchange. The Eu-PRAXIA project aims at the construction of an innovative electron accelerator using laser- and electron-beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration that offers a significant reduction in size and possible savings in cost over current state-of-the-art radiofrequency-based accelerators. The foreseen electron energy range of one to five gigaelectronvolts (GeV) and its performance goals will enable versatile applications in various domains, e.g. as a compact free-electron laser (FEL), compact sources for medical imaging and positron generation, table-top test beams for particle detectors, as well as deeply penetrating X-ray and gamma-ray sources for material testing. EuPRAXIA is designed to be the required stepping stone to possible future plasma-based facilities, such as linear colliders at the high-energy physics (HEP) energy frontier. Consistent with a high-confidence approach, the project includes measures to retire risk by establishing scaled technology demonstrators. This report includes preliminary models for project implementation, cost and schedule that would allow operation of the full Eu-PRAXIA facility within 8—10 years.

Data-informed inverse design by product usage information: a review, framework and outlook

Abstract: A significant body of knowledge exists on inverse problems and extensive research has been conducted on data-driven design in the past decade. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art methods and practice reported in the literature dealing with many different aspects of data-informed inverse design. By reviewing the origins and common practice of inverse problems in engineering design, the paper presents a closed-loop decision framework of product usage data-informed inverse design. Specifically reviewed areas of focus include data-informed inverse requirement analysis by user generated content, data-informed inverse conceptual design for product innovation, data-informed inverse embodiment design for product families and product platforming, data-informed inverse analysis and optimization in detailed design, along with prevailing techniques for product usage data collection and analytics. The paper also discusses the challenges of data-informed inverse design and the prospects for future research.

Conceptual design of the cross-arm for the application in the transmission towers by using TRIZ–morphological chart–ANP methods

Abstract: This paper introduces the conceptual design of the wooden cross-arm of transmission towers using the application of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), the morphological chart and the Analytical Network Process (ANP) methods. The main objective of this study is to develop and choose the optimal conceptual design of the component according to the requirements of the product design, with a particular focus on including wood in the design of the component. During early solution generation, the TRIZ contradiction matrix and 40 instruments were used for the solution of inventive principles. By using morphological diagrams, the key solution parameters for specific design features was refined to establish theoretical concepts systematically for the elements. Four design principles of the innovative element were developed and ANP finally used for carrying out a multi-criteria decision-making process to select the best design for the wooden cross-arm of transmission tower. A second conceptual design was chosen as the optimum design for the suggested designs based on the results.

Model-Based Design of Complex Aeronautical Systems Through Digital Twin and Thread Concepts

Abstract: Managing the lifecycle of the elements of a complex and safety-critical system, from conceptual design to support in operation, is still a relevant challenge in the industrial domain. Starting from research and engineering activities, up to production and delivery, the need of maintaining the trace of dependence, changes, and possible updates regarding the final product is a crucial aspect for success. Particularly, conceptual and preliminary design activities are affected by a high level of uncertainty and a certain degree of project instability, usually caused by the need to explore alternative solutions and variants. Different tasks are performed concerning the identification of system requirements, functional and physical behavior using model-based design (MBD), and model-based systems engineering, which, generally, are subjected to extensive trade studies aimed at identifying the best solution. In this context, this paper presents how model-based digital twin and threads concepts will likely change the way in which the MBD process is managed, overcoming the issues associated with federated IT infrastructures and with tools integration. Notably, lifecycle and nonlifecycle related interoperability aspects are described, with particular focus on the exploitation of standards for lifecycle collaboration and heterogeneous simulation. The design of an ice protection system for a regional aircraft is selected as case study, starting from the work performed by the authors within the EC-funded research project CRYSTAL.

Vehicle Design and Optimization Model for Urban Air Mobility

Abstract: Urban air mobility refers to an envisaged air taxi service, using small, autonomous, vertical-takeoff-and-landing, battery-powered electric aircraft. A conceptual design and optimization tool for u...

Conceptual design of multi-operation outdoor flexural creep test rig using hybrid concurrent engineering approach

Abstract: The hybridisation of conceptual design methods is presented in the development of multi-operations creep flexural test rig. The paper explains the integration of theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ), Morphological chart, and Analytic Network Process (ANP) method to ensure the quality function is fulfilled with the essential requirements. The objective of this project is to produce and choose the best design concept for the product development depending on the product design specifications (PDS). In the early stage of product development, the TRIZ contradiction principles and 40 TRIZ inventive solutions were applied as the guidance tools. To refine the specification of the product design, the principle solution parameters were detailed systematically with the aid of morphological chart. In this article, four innovative conceptual designs of the multi-operations creep flexural test rig were produced and the selection process was conducted using ANP method to perform the multi-criteria decision making process in selecting the best concept design.

Data-driven product design toward intelligent manufacturing: A review:

Abstract: With the arrival of the big data era, a lot of valuable data have been generated in the entire product life cycle. The gathered product data contain a lot of design knowledge, which brings new oppo...

Design strategies using multi-criteria decision-making tools to enhance the performance of building façades

Abstract: The climate change crisis and the need to control environmental impacts of the construction industry have motivated designers toward designing high performance and sustainable buildings. A building's facade, as a part of the enclosure, is certainly no exception to this requirement; however, despite the significant potential for building energy savings and reduction of environmental impacts, building facade design is not receiving proper attention. Presently, there is a need for a systematic approach to facilitate the integration of the various disciplines involved (e.g. architecture, as well as structural, mechanical and electrical design) and provide a comprehensive action plan that considers the life cycle stages of a facade system from conceptual design to demolition. This paper initially provides the required actions and considerations in each phase of design to provide a new and simplified guideline for designers in achieving a high performance facade system, with the help of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods. Secondly, the application of the Choquet integral and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is discussed to select the most suitable alternatives in facade preliminary design for a case study building, and the results are compared.

Sensitivity Analysis of Passive Design Strategies for Residential Buildings in Cold Semi-Arid Climates

Abstract: Buildings are significant drivers of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Improving the thermal comfort of occupants in free-running buildings and avoiding active and fossil fuel-based systems is the main challenge in many cities worldwide. However, the impacts of passive design measures on thermal comfort in cold semi-arid regions are seldom studied. With the rapid urbanization and the widespread use of personalised heating and cooling systems, there is a need to inform building designers and city authorities about passive design measures that can achieve nearly optimal conditions. Therefore, in this study, a global sensitivity analysis of the impact of passive design parameters on adaptive comfort in cold semi-arid climates was conducted. A representative residential building was simulated and calibrated in Quetta, Pakistan, to identify key design parameters for optimal thermal comfort. The results list and rank a set of passive design recommendations that can be used widely in similar climates. The results show that among the investigated 21 design variables, the insulation type of roof is the most influential design variable. Overall, the sensitivity analysis yielded new quantitative and qualitative knowledge about the passive design of buildings with personalised heating systems, but the used sensitivity analysis has some limitations. Finally, this study provides evidence-based and informed design recommendations that can serve architects and homeowners to integrate passive design measures at the earliest conceptual design phases in cold semi-arid climates.

Showing Data about People: A Design Space of Anthropographics

Abstract: When showing data about people, visualization designers and data journalists often use design strategies that presumably help the audience relate to those people. The term anthropographics has been recently coined to refer to this practice and the resulting visualizations. Anthropographics is a rich and growing area, but the work so far has remained scattered. Despite preliminary empirical work and a few web essays written by practitioners, there is a lack of a clear language for thinking about and communicating about anthropographics. We address this gap by introducing a conceptual framework and a design space for anthropographics. Our design space consists of seven elementary design dimensions that can be reasonably hypothesized to have some effect on prosocial feelings or behavior. It extends a previous design space and is informed by an analysis of 105 visualizations collected from newspapers, websites, and research papers. We use our conceptual framework and design space to discuss trade-offs, common design strategies, as well as future opportunities for design and research in the area of anthropographics.

A data-driven approach for creative concept generation and evaluation

Abstract: Conceptual design, as an early phase of the design process, is known to have the highest impact on determining the innovation level of design results. Although many tools exist to support designers in conceptual design, additional knowledge, especially knowledge related to emerging technologies, is still often needed. In this paper the authors aim to propose a data-driven creative concept generation and evaluation approach to support designers in incorporating emerging technologies in the new product early development stage. The approach is demonstrated by means of an illustrated example.

Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing Cost Estimation and Machining Feature Visualization

Abstract: Studies on manufacturing cost prediction based on deep learning have begun in recent years, but the cost prediction rationale cannot be explained because the models are still used as a black box. This study aims to propose a manufacturing cost prediction process for 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models using explainable artificial intelligence. The proposed process can visualize the machining features of the 3D CAD model that are influencing the increase in manufacturing costs. The proposed process consists of (1) data collection and pre-processing, (2) 3D deep learning architecture exploration, and (3) visualization to explain the prediction results. The proposed deep learning model shows high predictability of manufacturing cost for the computer numerical control (CNC) machined parts. In particular, using 3D gradient-weighted class activation mapping proves that the proposed model not only can detect the CNC machining features but also can differentiate the machining difficulty for the same feature. Using the proposed process, we can provide a design guidance to engineering designers in reducing manufacturing costs during the conceptual design phase. We can also provide real-time quotations and redesign proposals to online manufacturing platform customers.

Data-driven concept network for inspiring designers' idea generation

Abstract: Big-data mining brings new challenges and opportunities for engineering design, such as customer-needs mining, sentiment analysis, knowledge discovery, etc. At the early phase of conceptual design, designers urgently need to synthesize their own internal knowledge and wide external knowledge to solve design problems. However, on the one hand, it is time-consuming and laborious for designers to manually browse massive volumes of web documents and scientific literature to acquire external knowledge. On the other hand, how to extract concepts and discover meaningful concept associations automatically and accurately from these textual data to inspire designers’ idea generation? To address the above problems, we propose a novel data-driven concept network based on machine learning to capture design concepts and meaningful concept combinations as useful knowledge by mining the web documents and literature, which is further exploited to inspire designers to generate creative ideas. Moreover, the proposed approach contains three key steps: concept vector representation based on machine learning, semantic distance quantification based on concept clustering, and possible concept combinations based on natural language processing technologies, which is expected to provide designers with inspirational stimuli to solve design problems. A demonstration of conceptual design for detecting the fault location in transmission lines has been taken to validate the practicability and effectiveness of this approach.

Evaluation of topology optimization and generative design tools as support for conceptual design

Abstract: Nowadays, a large number of different tools that support early phases of design are available to engineers. In the past decade a specialized set of CAD-based tools were developed, that support the ideation process by generating different design alternatives according to the criteria given by the designer. Two types of tools are discussed in this paper: topology optimization and generative design tools. To investigate to what extent these tools are suitable for use in early design phases and what are the main differences between them, a study was conducted on an industrial case.

Generative BIM workspace for AEC conceptual design automation: prototype development

Abstract: The integration and automation of the whole design and implementation process have become a pivotal factor in construction projects. Problems of process integration, particularly at the conceptual design stage, often manifest through a number of significant areas, from design representation, cognition and translation to process fragmentation and loss of design integrity. Whilst building information modelling (BIM) applications can be used to support design automation, particularly through the modelling, amendment and management stages, they do not explicitly provide whole design integration. This is a significant challenge. However, advances in generative design now offer significant potential for enhancing the design experience to mitigate this challenge.,The approach outlined in this paper specifically addresses BIM deficiencies at the conceptual design stage, where the core drivers and indicators of BIM and generative design are identified and mapped into a generative BIM (G-BIM) framework and subsequently embedded into a G-BIM prototype. This actively engages generative design methods into a single dynamic BIM environment to support the early conceptual design process. The developed prototype followed the CIFE “horseshoe” methodology of aligning theoretical research with scientific methods to procure architecture, construction and engineering (AEC)-based solutions. This G-BIM prototype was also tested and validated through a focus group workshop engaging five AEC domain experts.,The G-BIM prototype presents a valuable set of rubrics to support the conceptual design stage using generative design. It benefits from the advanced features of BIM tools in relation to illustration and collaboration (coupled with BIM's parametric change management features).,This prototype has been evaluated through multiple projects and scenarios. However, additional test data is needed to further improve system veracity using conventional and non-standard real-life design settings (and contexts). This will be reported in later works.,Originality and value rest with addressing the shortcomings of previous research on automation during the design process. It also addresses novel computational issues relating to the implementation of generative design systems, where, for example, instead of engaging static and formal description of the domain concepts, G-BIM actively enhances the applicability of BIM during the early design stages to generate optimised (and more purposeful) design solutions.