Collaborative Research: Assessment of Optimization as a Structural Framework for the Detailed Design of Large-Scale Engineered Complex Systems

该合作研究项目的目的是评估多学科优化（MDO）方法作为大规模复杂系统详细设计过程中系统工程过程的协调框架。系统工程是在一个大型项目中协调许多设计团队集成的过程。该研究涉及系统设计和系统工程过程本身的同时优化。工作的重点是在详细设计阶段，在这个阶段，组织是沿着组件线而不是按照工程规程划分的，并且并行地设计数千个组件。本研究将首先在相关背景下研究系统的收益度量，并将这些度量制定为优化目标和约束。接下来，几个MDO方法将被检查其促进系统工程过程协调的潜力，并且将建立正式的度量标准来度量方法的有效性。这些方法将通过燃气涡轮发动机作为大型复杂系统的代表性例子的模拟设计来评估。仿真将包括基于物理的分析和描述组件设计团队响应不同流程协调方法的行为模型。在诸如飞机之类的系统中，用于详细设计的工程努力大大超过了在概念设计和初步设计的早期阶段所花费的精力。如果成功，这项研究可能会引入改进的方法来组织大规模复杂系统的详细设计，以减少成本超支和进度延误。该研究计划也可能以一种新的、有意义的方式重振MDO的研究。为了鼓励在这一领域的继续研究，将开设一门关于MDO对系统工程管理的适用性的研究生研讨会课程，采用模拟作为教学辅助手段。

The objective of this collaborative research project is to assess multidisciplinary optimization (MDO) methods as coordinating frameworks for the systems engineering process during the detailed design of large-scale complex systems. Systems engineering is the process that coordinates the integration of many design teams within a large project. The research addresses simultaneous optimization of the system design and the systems engineering process itself. The emphasis of the work is on the detailed design phase, in which an organization is divided along component lines rather than by engineering discipline, and the design of thousands of components occur in parallel. The research will first investigate payoff measures of the system in a relevant context and formulate these measures into optimization objectives and constraints. Next, several MDO methods will be examined for their potential to facilitate systems engineering process coordination, and formal metrics will be established to measure effectiveness of the methods. These methods will be assessed using a simulation of the design of a gas turbine engine as a representative example of a large-scale complex system. The simulation will include both physics-based analyses and behavioral models that describe the action of component design teams in response to different process coordination approaches. The engineering effort devoted to detailed design in systems such as aircraft significantly exceeds the effort expended on the earlier phases of conceptual and preliminary design. If successful, this research can potentially introduce improved ways of organizing the detailed design of large-scale complex systems to reduce cost overruns and schedule delays. The research program may also reinvigorate the study of MDO in a new and meaningful way. To encourage continued research in this area, a graduate seminar course on the applicability of MDO to systems engineering management will be created, employing the simulation as a pedagogic aid.