Engineering Design

'CAD wire frame/volume drawing of Audi 100 car. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica'

The engineering design theme addresses all stages of the engineering design process and links the properties of the products with the processes by which they are designed. We focus on complex products that are designed through incremental increases between product generations. We study design practise in industry and develop tools and methods to support them. We work on the theoretical foundations of engineering design. Our research bridges design and engineering and we work closely with colleagues in the Design group and the Manufacturing group as well as other engineering design researchers in the UK and internationally.

Our research interests include, in the context of the built environment:

• Engineering design tools and methodologies
• Design margins in engineering design
• Processes modelling
• Models and modelling in engineering design
• Philosophy of engineering design
• Theory of engineering design
• Trends in the engineering design practise

Current and recent research projects

• Managing design margins through the product development process
• Additive manufacturing for functional prototyping as part of the design and development process
• Complexity and process change in engineering design: Comparison of historic whole aircraft design and production with contemporary practice
• Generating product platforms
• The value in functional models in system engineering
• Making Rules, Making Tools: How Can Shape Grammar Support Creative Making?
• Rules for making: kinematic design, shape and structure