On the formal impossibility of analysing subfunctions as parts of functions in design methodology

Vermaas, Pieter E.

doi:10.1007/s00163-012-0133-1

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…and expanding the alternatives on the still unknown and emerging object (alternatives on functional definition of the emerging object, on the conceptual definition of the emerging object, etc.). Note that this implies a double meaning of functional language (functions of the known objects and functions of the unknown object) that explains formal issues with functions (Vermaas 2013). The same generative process appears in Function-BehaviorStructure model (Dorst and Vermaas 2005;Gero 1990) or in Zeng's product design theory (Zeng and Gu 1999a, b), which models evolutionary design processes.…”

Section: Defining and Modelling Generativity: A Rationale For An Extementioning

confidence: 97%

Design theory: a foundation of a new paradigm for design science and engineering

et al. 2017

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In recent years, the works on Design Theory (and particularly the works of the Design Theory SIG of the Design Society) have contributed to reconstruct the science of design, comparable in its structure, foundations and impact to Decision Theory, Optimization or Game Theory in their time. These works have reconstructed historical roots and the evolution of design theory, conceptualized the field at a high level of generality and uncovered theoretical foundations, in particular the logic of generativity, the "designoriented" structures of knowledge, and the logic of design spaces. These results give the academic field of engineering design an ecology of scientific objects and models, which allows for expanding the scope of engineering education and design courses. They have contributed to a paradigm shift in the organization of R&D departments, supporting the development of new methods and processes in innovation departments, and to establishing new models for development projects. Emerging from the field of engineering design, design theory development has now a growing impact in many disciplines and academic communities. The research community may play significant role in addressing contemporary challenges if it brings the insights and applicability of Design Theory to open new ways of thinking in the developing and developed world.

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Section: Defining and Modelling Generativity: A Rationale For An Extementioning

confidence: 97%

Design theory: a foundation of a new paradigm for design science and engineering

et al. 2017

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“…This prompts for the need to consider the definitions of function and failure in a much broader sense. Building on the user-and use-case centric function reasoning originating from software engineering (Cockburn, 2000), and the description of functions from either a device-centric or an environment centric viewpoint (Brown and Blessing, 2005), Vermaas (2009Vermaas ( , 2013 has introduced an ontological framework that includes goals, actions, functions, behaviours and structure. This offers an opportunity to consider the concept of failure in relation to stakeholder goals, and not just in relation to structure and specifications of functions / behaviours as the prevalent engineering approach.…”

Section: Proposed Goal-centric Definition Of Durabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Durability as a techno-socio-economic concept

Campean,

Eckert

2024

Proc. Des. Soc.

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While the “useful life” of products plays an important role in the balance of sustainability and lifecycle assessment, the concept of durability, as the main measure of useful life, is still ill-defined. This paper critically considers the limitations of the current definitions and approaches to durability, by reflecting on the complex interactions of the viewpoints of engineering design teams, users, society and business economics. A new definition is proposed for durability relating to the useful life goals for a product within its techno-socio-economic context.

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“…This is related to design thinking. Additionally, Vermaas 37 has shown from a philosophical point of view that the relation between technical functions and their subfunctions in (abstract) functional descriptions of technical products cannot be analyzed as a formal relation of parthood. That is, operating solely with (abstract) functional decompositions may lead to the paradox of a function containing an instance of itself.…”

Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational framework for interactive architecting of complex systems

Guenov

Riaz

Bile

et al. 2020

Systems Engineering

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Presented is a novel framework for interactive systems architecture definition at early design stages. It incorporates graph-theoretic data structures, entity relationships, and algorithms that enable the systems architect to operate interactively and simultaneously in different domains. It explicitly captures the "zigzagging" of the functional reasoning process, including not only allocated, but also the derived functions. A prototype software tool, AirCADia Architect, was implemented, which allowed the framework to be demonstrated to and tried hands-on by practicing aircraft systems architects. The tool enables architects to effectively express their ideas when interactively synthesizing new architectures, while still retaining control over the process. The proposed approach was especially acknowledged as the way forward for rationale capture. K E Y W O R D S architecture definition, systems engineering 1 INTRODUCTION The ability to innovate is considered one of the key factors for success in the globally competitive world of today. This is particularly relevant in the design of complex systems, such as aircraft, where the requisite subsystems, for example, environmental control, flight control, etc., account for about one-third of the total empty weight and cost. 1 Innovation in aircraft subsystems design can bring forth significant competitive advantages, such as improved fuel consumption, reduced maintenance costs, and higher reliability. The work reported in this paper is related to innovative systems architecting and originates from a topical European research project, "Thermal Overall Integrated Conception of Aircraft" (TOICA). 2,3 Specifically, the authors contributed to one of the research objectives of TOICA: the development of methods and tools enabling systems architects to discover, define, assess, and evaluate (systems) architectures. Within this wider context, the scope of the research described herein has been restricted to the process of conceptual systems architecture definition, within the requirements (R), functional (F), and logical (L) domains. The term requirements domain refers to the activities involving requirements engineering and management. The functional domain is concerned with the functional decomposition and analysis, and the logical domain deals with the specification of solutions and their interfaces. In the systems engineering community, solutions are also referred to as forms, means, or artifacts, and include both components and subsystems. Also, logical solutions are sometimes referredto as physical solutions. In this paper, we shall distinguish between logical and physical domains, where the former is assumed to be concerned mainly with the interconnectivity between components and subsystems, while the latter with spatial layout and geometry. In a recent publication, 4 we presented data structures underpinning basic operations that take place in the F-L domains. Here, we extend that work to include requirements and the notion of a computational (behavioral) domain. The latt...

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On the formal impossibility of analysing subfunctions as parts of functions in design methodology

Cited by 14 publications

References 31 publications

Design theory: a foundation of a new paradigm for design science and engineering

Design theory: a foundation of a new paradigm for design science and engineering

Durability as a techno-socio-economic concept

Computational framework for interactive architecting of complex systems

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