Abstract
The need exists for developing quantitative tools to quantify design information much earlier in the conceptual design stage. This will help in making a prudent, confident and concrete selection among the available design concepts. To date most of the concept evaluation and selection techniques available are subjective and qualitative in nature. This research is an effort to develop a framework and a guideline for quantifying the imprecise and vague design information available during the conceptual design stage. The guideline helps in establishing quantitative measures to compare design concepts and removes the subjective nature of the concept evaluation process. A superior design is one, which is best in both functional as well as geometrical aspects. The quantitative approach presented compares design concepts for Functional Superiority in terms of two quantities: the Independence Index and the Information Content. Also it compares the design concepts for Geometric Simplicity in terms of two quantities: Projected Assembly Time and Projected Assembly Cost. Overall, the approach presented is a small step, but it aids in quantifying vague design information as numbers early in the design cycle and makes the concept evaluation and selection process objective. This work also presents an algorithm and flowchart for automating the approach presented and demonstrates it using two case studies from different engineering domains.
Tiwari, Sanjay (2002). A quantitative and objective evaluation approach for optimal selection of design concept in conceptual design stage. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2002 -THESIS -T58.