A growing realization that wetlands are potentially
valuable resources has recently stimulated efforts towards
their protection. While a foundation for wetland management
exists, decision makers still lack adequate tools for addressing
issues of wetland preservation vs. development.
Wetland preservation values are often neglected in traditional
market analyses and in the...
Analysis of alternative concepts has a significant impact on design project outcomes, and yet many design teams fail to consider a significantly broad range of conceptual solutions. Within the realm of conceptual design exists a technique called design by analogy (DBA) -- the practice of reapplying old solutions to new...
A number of computational tools now exist to aid in developing conceptual solutions based on a functional description of a design problem. A key limitation of these tools is the way results are organized for presentation to the user. In general, results are an undifferentiated mass of potential solutions. Analysis...
Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies, herein referred to as biological systems, provide a rich set of analogies that can be used to inspire engineering innovation. Biologically-inspired, or biomimetic, designs are publicly viewed as creative and novel solutions to human problems. Moreover, some biomimetic designs have become so commonplace that it...
Some successful products are still developed and produced without the benefit of modern design techniques. One such product is a vibratory conveyor that has been developed largely through prototype iteration. The manufacturer has collaborated with Oregon State University to introduce model-based design into the development process. This research details a...
Due to the growing complexity, sophistication, and interconnectedness of present day engineered products and services, the use of ontologies in engineering design is becoming more widespread. An ontology provides a standardized way of describing concepts in a domain of interest and the relationships between these concepts to better understand the...
This thesis is the summation of two publications with the motivation to move reliability analysis earlier in the design process. Current analyses aim to improve reliability after components have been selected. Moving specific analyses earlier in the design process reduces the cost to the designer. These early design analyses provide...
This research presents a methodology to analyze customer needs and direct the gathering of customer needs that both span the need space and are independent. An ontological categorization, the fundamental research contribution of this work, is created to support both aims of the overall methodology. Providing designers with a customer...