MULTIDESCIPLINARY design optimization (MDO) has developed in theory andpractice during the last three decades with the aim of optimizing complexproducts as well as cutting costs and product development time. Despite thisdevelopment, the implementation of such a method in industry is still a challenge andmany complex products suffer time and cost overruns. Employing higher fidelity models (HFMs) in conceptual design, one of the early and most important phases in the design process, can play an important role in increasing the knowledge base regarding the concept under evaluation. However, design space in the presence of HFMs could significantly be expanded. MDO has proven to be an important tool for searching the design space and finding optimal solutions. This leads to a reduction in the number of design iterations later in the design process, with wiser and more robust decisions made early in the design process to rely on. In complex products, different systems from a multitude of engineering disciplines have to work tightly together. This stresses the importance of evolving various domain experts in the design process to improve the design from diverse engineering perspectives. Involving more engineers in the design process early on raises the challenges of collaboration, known to be an important barrier to MDO implementation in industry. Another barrier is the unavailability and lack of MDO experts in industry; those who understand the MDO process and know the implementation tasks involved. In an endeavor to address the mentioned implementation challenges, a novel collaborative multidisciplinary design optimization (CMDO) framework is defined in order to be applied in the conceptual design phase. CMDO provides a platform where many engineers team up to increase the likelihood of more accurate decisions being taken early on. The structured way to define the engineering responsibilities and tasks involved in MDO helps to facilitate the implementation process. It will be further elaborated that educating active engineers with MDO knowledge is an expensive and time-consuming process for industries. Therefore, a guideline for CMDO implementation in conceptual design is proposed in this thesis that can be easily followed by design engineers with limited prior knowledge in MDO. The performance of the framework is evaluated in a number of case studies, including applications such as aircraft design and the design of a tidal water power plant, and by engineers in industry and student groups in academia.

Over the last years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gradually become a more efficient alternative to manned aircraft, and at present, they are being deployed in a broad spectrum of both military as well as civilian missions. This has led to an unprecedented market expansion with new challenges for the aeronautical industry, and as a result, it has created a need to implement the latest design tools in order to achieve faster idea-to-market times and higher product performance. As a complex engineering product, UAVs are comprised of numerous sub-systems with intricate synergies and hidden dependencies. To this end, Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) is a method that can identify systems with better performance through the concurrent consideration of several engineering disciplines under a common framework. Nevertheless, there are still many limitations in MDO, and to this date, some of the most critical gaps can be found in the disciplinary modeling, in the analysis capabilities, and in the organizational integration of the method. As an aeronautical product, UAVs are also expected to work together with other systems and to perform in various operating environments. In this respect, System of Systems (SoS) models enable the exploration of design interactions in various missions, and hence, they allow decision makers to identify capabilities that are beyond those of each individual system. As expected, this significantly more complex formulation raises new challenges regarding the decomposition of the problem, while at the same time, it sets further requirements in terms of analyses and mission simulation. In this light, this thesis focuses on the design optimization of UAVs by enhancing the current MDO capabilities and by exploring the use of SoS models. Two literature reviews serve as the basis for identifying the gaps and trends in the field, and in turn, five case studies try to address them by proposing a set of expansions. On the whole, the problem is approached from a technical as well as an organizational point of view, and thus, this research aims to propose solutions that can lead to better performance and that are also meaningful to the Product Development Process (PDP). Having established the above foundation, this work delves firstly into MDO, and more specifically, it presents a framework that has been enhanced with further system models and analysis capabilities, efficient computing solutions, and data visualization tools. At a secondary level, this work addresses the topic of SoS, and in particular, it presents a multi-level decomposition strategy, multi-fidelity disciplinary models, and a mission simulation module. Overall, this thesis presents quantitative data which aim to illustrate the benefits of design optimization on the performance of UAVs, and it concludes with a qualitative assessment of the effects that the proposed methods and tools can have on both the PDP and the organization.

This book presents results from a major European research projectValue Improvement through a Virtual Aeronautical Collaborative Enterprise ( VIVACE)on the collaborative civil aeronautical enterprise. The VIVACE project spanned four years and included 63 partners from multinational companies in 11 European Union countries.

These proceedings gather outstanding papers presented at the China SAE Congress 2021, held on Oct. 19-21, Shanghai, China. Featuring contributions mainly from China, the biggest carmaker as well as most dynamic car market in the world, the book covers a wide range of automotive-related topics and the latest technical advances in the industry. Many of the approaches in the book will help technicians to solve practical problems that affect their daily work. In addition, the book offers valuable technical support to engineers, researchers and postgraduate students in the field of automotive engineering.

Global networks, which are the primary pillars of the modern manufacturing industry and supply chains, can only cope with the new challenges, requirements and demands when supported by new computing and Internet-based technologies. Cloud Manufacturing: Distributed Computing Technologies for Global and Sustainable Manufacturing introduces a new paradigm for scalable service-oriented sustainable and globally distributed manufacturing systems. The eleven chapters in this book provide an updated overview of the latest technological development and applications in relevant research areas. Following an introduction to the essential features of Cloud Computing, chapters cover a range of methods and applications such as the factors that actually affect adoption of the Cloud Computing technology in manufacturing companies and new geometrical simplification method to stream 3-Dimensional design and manufacturing data via the Internet. This is further supported case studies and real life data for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) remanufacturing. This compilation of up to date research and literature can be used as a textbook or reference for mechanical, manufacturing, and computer engineering graduate students and researchers for efficient utilization, deployment and development of distributed and Cloud manufacturing systems, services and applications.

Product Realization: A Comprehensive Approach is based on selected papers presented at the International Conference on Comprehensive Product Realization 2007 (ICCPR2007). The extended papers will provide the opportunity for scholars from all around the world to discuss their academic programs, identify research opportunities, and initiate joint research programs in the area of comprehensive product realization. Engineering design has evolved from an isolated semi-empirical activity to a highly interconnected, multidisciplinary product realization collaborative process. The scope of the book will focus on a number of themes within the framework of the conference that are deemed essential to educating the next generation of students and practicing engineers in the area of product realization.

No one discipline or person can encompass all the knowledge necessary to solve complex, ill-defined problems, or problems for which a solution is not immediately obvious. The concept of Concurrent Engineering (CE) – interdisciplinary, but with an engineering focus – was developed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Product Creation Process (PCP) by conducting different phases of a product’s life concurrently. Transdisciplinary Engineering has transcended CE, emphasizing the crucial importance of interdisciplinary openness and collaboration. This book presents the proceedings of the 28th ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2021). Held online from 5 – 9 July 2021 and entitled ‘Transdisciplinary Engineering for Resilience: Responding to System Disruptions’, this is the second conference in the series held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual TE conference constitutes an important forum for international scientific exchange on transdisciplinary engineering research, advances, and applications, and is attended by researchers, industry experts and students, as well as government representatives. The book contains 58 peer-reviewed papers, selected from more than 80 submissions and ranging from the theoretical and conceptual to strongly pragmatic and addressing industrial best practice. The papers are grouped under 6 headings covering theory; education and training; PD methods and digital TE; industry and society; product systems; and individuals and teams. Providing an overview of the latest research results and knowledge of product creation processes and related methodologies, the book will be of interest to all researchers, design practitioners, and educators working in the field of Transdisciplinary Engineering.