Mapping Causal Relationships and Conflicts among Design Parameters and System Requirements

Abstract

This paper proposes a Computer-Aided tool aimed at increasing the efficiency of the Product Development Process by bridging the definition of system requirements to the preliminary assessment of the impacts of design choices on product characteristics. In details, it supports the designer in the definition of desired and undesired characteristics of a technical system throughout its entire lifecycle, according to a standardized set of criteria for eliciting and organizing knowledge from experts. The Computer-Aided tool also assist the user in managing the complex network between design variables and system requirements, characterizing their cause-and-effect relationships with the objective of determining critical parameters for product design. The paper also presents an exemplary application of the software prototype in the field of washing machines with the purpose of highlighting that a progressive integration of this kind of instruments into existing CAD/CAE tools also allows to promptly determine a connection between requirements and objectives of physically based simulations.