Engineering design

process

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The engineering design process is a

common series of steps that engineers
use in creating functional products and
processes. The process is highly iterative -
parts of the process often need to be
repeated many times before another can
be entered - though the part(s) that get
iterated and the number of such cycles in
any given project may vary.

It is a decision making process (often

iterative) in which the basic sciences,
mathematics, and engineering sciences
are applied to convert resources optimally
to meet a stated objective. Among the
fundamental elements of the design
process are the establishment of
objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis,
construction, testing and evaluation.[1]

Common stages of the

engineering design process
It's important to understand that there are
various framings/articulations of the
engineering design process. Different
terminology employed may have varying
degrees of overlap, which affects what
steps get stated explicitly or deemed "high
level" versus subordinate in any given
model. This, of course, applies as much to
any particular example steps/sequences
given here.

One example framing of the engineering

design process delineates the following
stages: research, conceptualization,
feasibility assessment, establishing design
requirements, preliminary design, detailed
design, production planning and tool design,
and production.[2] Others, noting that
"different authors (in both research
literature and in textbooks) define different
phases of the design process with varying
activities occurring within them," have
suggested more simplified/generalized
models - such as problem definition,
conceptual design, preliminary design,
detailed design, and design
communication.[3] Another summary of the
process, from European engineering
design literature, includes clarification of
the task, conceptual design, embodiment
design, detail design.[4] (NOTE: In these
examples, other key aspects - such as
concept evaluation and prototyping - are
subsets and/or extensions of one or more
of the listed steps.)

Research …

Various stages of the design process (and

even earlier) can involve a significant
amount of time spent on locating
information and research.[5] Consideration
should be given to the existing applicable
literature, problems and successes
associated with existing solutions, costs,
and marketplace needs.[5]
The source of information should be
relevant. Reverse engineering can be an
effective technique if other solutions are
available on the market.[5] Other sources
of information include the Internet, local
libraries, available government documents,
personal organizations, trade journals,
vendor catalogs and individual experts
available.[5]

Design requirements …

Establishing design requirements and

conducting requirement analysis,
sometimes termed problem definition (or
deemed a related activity), is one of the
most important elements in the design
process,[6] and this task is often performed
at the same time as a feasibility analysis.
The design requirements control the
design of the product or process being
developed, throughout the engineering
design process. These include basic
things like the functions, attributes, and
specifications - determined after
assessing user needs. Some design
requirements include hardware and
software parameters, maintainability,
availability, and testability.[2]

Feasibility …
In some cases, a feasibility study is carried
out after which schedules, resource plans
and estimates for the next phase are
developed. The feasibility study is an
evaluation and analysis of the potential of
a proposed project to support the process
of decision making. It outlines and
analyses alternatives or methods of
achieving the desired outcome. The
feasibility study helps to narrow the scope
of the project to identify the best scenario.
A feasibility report is generated following
which Post Feasibility Review is
performed.
The purpose of a feasibility assessment is
to determine whether the engineer's
project can proceed into the design phase.
This is based on two criteria: the project
needs to be based on an achievable idea,
and it needs to be within cost constraints.
It is important to have engineers with
experience and good judgment to be
involved in this portion of the feasibility
study.[2]

Concept Generation …

A concept study (conceptualization,

conceptual design) is often a phase of
project planning that includes producing
ideas and taking into account the pros and
cons of implementing those ideas. This
stage of a project is done to minimize the
likelihood of error, manage costs, assess
risks, and evaluate the potential success
of the intended project. In any event, once
an engineering issue or problem is defined,
potential solutions must be identified.
These solutions can be found by using
ideation, the mental process by which
ideas are generated. In fact, this step is
often termed Ideation or "Concept
Generation." The following are widely used
techniques:[2]
trigger word - a word or phrase
associated with the issue at hand is
stated, and subsequent words and
phrases are evoked.
morphological analysis - independent
design characteristics are listed in a
chart, and different engineering
solutions are proposed for each
solution. Normally, a preliminary sketch
and short report accompany the
morphological chart.
synectics - the engineer imagines him or
herself as the item and asks, "What
would I do if I were the system?" This
unconventional method of thinking may
 find a solution to the problem at hand.
The vital aspects of the
conceptualization step is synthesis.
Synthesis is the process of taking the
element of the concept and arranging
them in the proper way. Synthesis
creative process is present in every
design.
brainstorming - this popular method
involves thinking of different ideas,
typically as part of a small group, and
adopting these ideas in some form as a
solution to the problem

Various generated ideas must then

undergo a concept evaluation step, which
utilizes various tools to compare and
contrast the relative strengths and
weakness of possible alternatives.

Preliminary design …

The preliminary design, or high-level

design includes (also called FEED or Basic
design), often bridges a gap between
design conception and detailed design,
particularly in cases where the level of
conceptualization achieved during ideation
is not sufficient for full evaluation. So in
this task, the overall system configuration
is defined, and schematics, diagrams, and
layouts of the project may provide early
project configuration. (This notably varies
a lot by field, industry, and product.) During
detailed design and optimization, the
parameters of the part being created will
change, but the preliminary design
focuses on creating the general
framework to build the project on.[2]

S. Blanchard and J. Fabrycky describe it

as: “The ‘whats’ initiating conceptual
design produce ‘hows’ from the
conceptual design evaluation effort
applied to feasible conceptual design
concepts. Next, the ‘hows’ are taken into
preliminary design through the means of
allocated requirements. There they
become ‘whats’ and drive preliminary
design to address ‘hows’ at this lower
level.”

Detailed design …

Following FEED is the Detailed Design

(Detailed Engineering) phase, which may
consist of procurement of materials as
well. This phase further elaborates each
aspect of the project/product by complete
description through solid modeling,
drawings as well as specifications.

Computer-aided design (CAD) programs

have made detailed design phase more
efficient. For example, a CAD program can
provide optimization to reduce volume
without hindering a part's quality. It can
also calculate stress and displacement
using the finite element method to
determine stresses throughout the part. [7]

Production planning …

The production planning and tool design

consists of planning how to mass-produce
the product and which tools should be
used in the manufacturing process. Tasks
to complete in this step include selecting
materials, selection of the production
processes, determination of the sequence
of operations, and selection of tools such
as jigs, fixtures, metal cutting and metal or
plastics forming tools. This task also
involves additional prototype testing
iterations to ensure the mass-produced
version meets qualification testing
standards.[2]

Comparison with the

scientific method
Engineering is formulating a problem that
can be solved through design. Science is
formulating a question that can be solved
through investigation. The engineering
design process bears some similarity to
the scientific method.[8][9][10] Both
processes begin with existing knowledge,
and gradually become more specific in the
search for knowledge (in the case of "pure"
or basic science) or a solution (in the case
of "applied" science, such as engineering).
The key difference between the
engineering process and the scientific
process is that the engineering process
focuses on design, creativity and
innovation while the scientific process
emphasizes Discovery (observation).

See also
Applied science
 Design engineer
Engineering analysis
Engineering optimization
New product development
Systems engineering process
Surrogate model
Traditional engineering

References
1. "Criteria for Accrediting Engineering
Programs, 2019 – 2020" . ABET.
Retrieved 15 September 2019.
2. Ertas, A. & Jones, J. (1996). The
Engineering Design Process. 2nd ed.
New York, N.Y., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Dym, C.L. & Little, P. (2009).
Engineering Design. 3rd ed. New York,
N.Y., John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
4. Pahl, G. & Beitz, W. (1988). Engineering
Design: a systematic approach.
London, UK, The Design Council.
5. A.Eide, R.Jenison, L.Mashaw,
L.Northup. Engineering: Fundamentals
and Problem Solving. New York City:
McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.,2002
. Ralph, P., and Wand, Y. A Proposal for a
Formal Definition of the Design
Concept. In, Lyytinen, K., Loucopoulos,
P., Mylopoulos, J., and Robinson, W.,
(eds.), Design Requirements
 Engineering: A Ten-Year Perspective:
Springer-Verlag, 2009, pp. 103-136.
7. Widas, P. (1997, April 9). Introduction
to finite element analysis. Retrieved
from "Archived copy" . Archived from
the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved
2010-11-23.
. Braha, Dan; Maimon, Oded (1997). The
design process: properties, paradigms,
and structure . IEEE Transactions on
Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part A:
Systems and Humans, 27(2), 146-166.
9. Braha, Dan; Maimon, Oded (1998). A
Mathematical Theory of Design:
 Foundations, Algorithms, and
Applications. Springer. Chapter 2 .
10. Dieter, George; Schmidt, Linda (2007).
Engineering Design. McGraw-Hill. p. 9.
ISBN 978-0-07-283703-2.
"Criteria for accrediting engineering
programs, Engineering accrediting
commission" (PDF). ABET.
Ullman, David G. (2009) The Mechanical
Design Process, Mc Graw Hill, 4th
edition, ISBN 978-0072975741
Eggert, Rudolph J. (2010) Engineering
Design, Second Edition, High Peak
Press, Meridian, Idaho, ISBN 978-
0131433588
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