Effective Reverse Engineering of Qualitative Design Knowledge: A Case Study of Aerospace Pylon Design

Abstract

Global collaboration is now a key for enterprises to rapidly achieve their worldwide successes. During the rapid expansion of their business, many challenges are emerging, e.g., novice training, knowledge transferring, intellectual property (IP) protection. This paper presented an effective approach for gaining new knowledge in a design project through reverse engineering by using Environment Based Design (EBD) methodology. The case study used in this paper was designed to demonstrate how design knowledge can be assimilated by using the proposed approach. A graduate student, without any aerospace design knowledge and experience, was presented with a sentence extracted from a statement of work of a student capstone project in the aerospace engineering department of École Polytechnique de Montréal. Within a month, the graduate student designer was able to deliver a conceptual design solution including product life cycle analysis, with only public resources at his disposal. The results were then evaluated by experts in aerospace who have collectively overseen the project for many years, on how much knowledge the student had assimilated. A comparison, between the student designer and other novice designers from the project, was given thereafter. The assessment turns out promising and inspiring in terms of the knowledge assimilation for a novice within such a short time. In other words, the effectiveness of the presented approach has been validated. This is a feasible attempt to significantly shorten the time and minimize the efforts for novice training and knowledge transferring in education and industry, especially when a firm is expanding their global business.

Which Design Methodologies Are Effective to Support a Capstone Project in Aerospace Design Engineering?

“…Environment-based design (EBD) [24,25] is a systematic design methodology under research and development at Concordia University by Professor Yong Zeng. EBD has also reported positive research attempts in aircraft design [26,27] and potential integrations with design methodologies such as TRIZ, and axiomatic design [28]. Mavris and Pinon [20], and Price, et al [19] demonstrate that SE exhibits strong similarities with the aircraft design process, as both build on decomposition, synthesis, and verification to achieve successful systems.…”

Environment-Based Design (Ebd): Using Only Necessary Knowledge for Designer Creativity

“…The experts worked independently to evaluate the final conceptual design document. The details of the case study can be found in (Tan et al, 2013).…”

“…The lifecycle of the pylon interface includes manufacture, transportation, assembly, sales, maintenance, and disposal. The relevant environment components can be found in (Tan et al, 2013). Q7 How to install it?…”

“…The novice designer identified the conflicts (not all) listed Table 2. More detailed processes can be found in (Tan et al, 2013).…”