Purpose for Integrated Design, Analysis and Manufacturing Approach

An integrated design and analysis approach provides one of the key enabling capabilities needed in effectively evaluating specific areas of initial concept development and in performing detail engineering design and analysis throughout a project's development cycle. This integrated engineering approach incorporates the infrastructure and design and analysis formats and tools that can be exercised in a concurrent nature and provides benefits from a standpoint of producing a better design, faster results, lower cost uncertainties, and reduced risk. Currently, throughout NASA and in the private sector and academia, many concurrent engineering efforts are being applied.

In order to accomplish work more efficiently, concurrent engineering integrates design and analysis activities so that they are not separate, sequential processes (often involving design rework due to analytical findings) but instead form an integrated system with smooth transfers of information. Another requirement increasingly demanded of any analysis approach is to do it faster and better; create a more streamlined capability and include all known variables to produce the best possible predictions. The heart of the concurrent engineering approach described here is the use of a single integrated model for thermal and mechanical/structural analysis of a system. This allows a saving of time in the thermal and structural analysis work, since only one geometric model must be developed, and the geometry is imported rather than developed manually. The integrated process also facilitates electronic transfer of data between all types of analysis, such as transfer of exact thermal gradients to be used in structural analysis. Finally, it produces greater model accuracy since the model can be directly imported from the design software package. As an extra benefit, this integrated approach allows transfer of the engineering design to the manufacturing level for production purposes.

The power of the integrated engineering design and analysis approach presented is typically employed at the preliminary and detailed design level, but can be utilized early in concept development as a fairly rapid design and analysis package for investigating and defining design and/or technical feasibility issues. The integrated design and analysis structure presented here lends itself readily to a collaborative engineering environment and can be accommodated to other analysis tools and interface standards.

The intent of this website is to demonstrate an integrated design/analysis approach that minimizes time spent in modeling, allows rapid and accurate analyses, and expands the potential for coupled analyses (e.g. structural deflections from thermal and structural loads). We are working toward making our design/analysis capability as seamless as possible. Some of our guidelines and lessons learned are listed here to invite suggestions from other groups, and to help other groups avoid learning the same lessons over again. We welcome your comments and suggestions.