Visual design steering (VDS) as a new paradigm for engineering design

摘要

Rapid increases in computational hardware and software capabilities have now enabled the generation of more data in an engineering analysis and design process than can be easily handled. These computational capabilities have in many ways outstripped our present engineering design methods and processes. Appropriate interpretation and understanding of the data being generated is often hampered by its sheer mass, thereby impacting the designer's ability to make effective trade-off decisions. Visualization has long been used by analysts and designers to better understand features of a product or the results of an analysis. However, the increasing sophistication of data, product, and process representation provides an enabling capability to steer the design process through interactive participation by the experienced and knowledgeable designer. Present day modelling and simulation capabilities now provide the context for the introduction of the Visual Design Steering Paradigm (VDS). In VDS, visualization is used as a tool at various stages of the design process to achieve a more efficient, more accurate, and more systems-oriented final design.