Engineers Build Models

Did you know that engineers use models to communicate their ideas to others? A model is a representation of a real object. Learn more in How Engineers Build Models, a title in the What Engineers Do series.

Describes how engineers use models to help them build planes, automobiles, houses, and other structures, and discusses the different kinds of models.

Physical models have been, and continue to be used by engineers when faced with unprecedented challenges, when engineering science has been non-existent or inadequate, and in any other situation when the engineer has needed to raise their confidence in a design proposal to a sufficient level to begin construction. For this reason, models have mostly been used by designers and constructors of highly innovative projects, when previous experience has not been available. The book covers the history of using of physical models in the design and development of civil and building engineering projects including bridges in the mid-18th century, William Fairbairn?s Britannia bridge in the 1840s, the masonry Aswan Dam in the 1890s, concrete dams in the 1920s, thin concrete shell roofs and the dynamic behaviour of tall buildings in earthquakes from the 1930s, tidal flow in estuaries and the acoustics of concert halls from the 1950s, and cable-net and membrane structures in the 1960s. Traditionally, progress in engineering has been attributed to the creation and use of engineering science, the understanding materials properties and the development of new construction methods. The book argues that the use of reduced scale models have played an equally important part in the development of civil and building engineering. However, like the history of engineering design itself, this crucial contribution has not been widely reported or celebrated. The book concludes with reviews of the current use of physical models alongside computer models, for example, in boundary layer wind tunnels, room acoustics, seismic engineering, hydrology, and air flow in buildings.

Model Engineering for Simulation provides a systematic introduction to the implementation of generic, normalized and quantifiable modeling and simulation using DEVS formalism. It describes key technologies relating to model lifecycle management, including model description languages, complexity analysis, model management, service-oriented model composition, quantitative measurement of model credibility, and model validation and verification. The book clearly demonstrates how to construct computationally efficient, object-oriented simulations of DEVS models on parallel and distributed environments. Guides systems and control engineers in the practical creation and delivery of simulation models using DEVS formalism Provides practical methods to improve credibility of models and manage the model lifecycle Helps readers gain an overall understanding of model lifecycle management and analysis Supported by an online ancillary package that includes an instructors and student solutions manual

Surrogate models expedite the search for promising designs by standing in for expensive design evaluations or simulations. They provide a global model of some metric of a design (such as weight, aerodynamic drag, cost, etc.), which can then be optimized efficiently. Engineering Design via Surrogate Modelling is a self-contained guide to surrogate models and their use in engineering design. The fundamentals of building, selecting, validating, searching and refining a surrogate are presented in a manner accessible to novices in the field. Figures are used liberally to explain the key concepts and clearly show the differences between the various techniques, as well as to emphasize the intuitive nature of the conceptual and mathematical reasoning behind them. More advanced and recent concepts are each presented in stand-alone chapters, allowing the reader to concentrate on material pertinent to their current design problem, and concepts are clearly demonstrated using simple design problems. This collection of advanced concepts (visualization, constraint handling, coping with noisy data, gradient-enhanced modelling, multi-fidelity analysis and multiple objectives) represents an invaluable reference manual for engineers and researchers active in the area. Engineering Design via Surrogate Modelling is complemented by a suite of Matlab codes, allowing the reader to apply all the techniques presented to their own design problems. By applying statistical modelling to engineering design, this book bridges the wide gap between the engineering and statistics communities. It will appeal to postgraduates and researchers across the academic engineering design community as well as practising design engineers. Provides an inclusive and practical guide to using surrogates in engineering design. Presents the fundamentals of building, selecting, validating, searching and refining a surrogate model. Guides the reader through the practical implementation of a surrogate-based design process using a set of case studies from real engineering design challenges. Accompanied by a companion website featuring Matlab software at http://www.wiley.com/go/forrester

In this book you'll learn how to make the right selection of alternative designs or architectures; produce executable structure models that can be transformed into alternative views and verified by computer; formulate a design that meets all functional and performance requirements and is both feasible and optimal for the marketplace; accurately assess information made available to the systems engineering team; perform trade-off analyses that enhance decision making; create, build, and test a plan; and tailor the six-step engineering process to fit specific business environments. This scalable systems engineering approach can be easily adapted to model products, services, businesses, processes, and plans. Guidelines are included on how to improve training capability in your company ... select and develop tools for automation ... build highly efficient infrastructure ... and customize the system engineering process to commercial or aerospace projects. In addition, the authors clearly distinguish management tasks from the technical tasks of systems engineers.

Engineering Modeling and Design is a comprehensive systems engineering text that focuses on systematic principles for designing systems. Concurrent engineering, which requires that from the very start of a project all players (e.g., engineering, maintenance, marketing, customers) are involved as all facets of the system life cycle are considered, is skillfully illustrated through the use of two major case studies. The text describes how a product design proceeds parallel to the process design, explains key duties of systems engineers throughout the product life cycle, and examines the process of system design in terms of life cycle requirements. Projects and problems are presented throughout the text. A homework solutions/instructor's manual is available from the publisher upon request. Engineering Modeling and Design is an excellent text for engineering design courses in industry and upper division courses on concurrent engineering or total quality management.