DSGN119 - Design as a Generic Tool
Professor M Neil James - Web page http://www.plym.tech.ac.uk/si
This page gathers together some of the more important general diagrams introduced in the module, and outlines certain illustrative case studies of interesting and/or innovative structural design and engineering.
Important Diagrams
1. Systems partitioning is equivalent to the 'design process'
2. Design process as a waterfall diagram
3. Concurrent integrated design
4. Materials, engineering and mankind - benefits and risks
5. Interaction between design possibilities and materials capabilities
6. Jade funerary suit - China
7. Samurai sword convict cutting diagram
8. Armour proof testing
Complexity of Successful Design?
Can illustrate the complexity of achieving successful design through the example of the crash resistance of a Formula 1 racing car. What factors need to be considered in achieving driver survivability in crashes at >> 100 mph?
This picture was published in The Times newspaper of July 30 2001.
The 'one bay' crack concept in action - Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-297 - 28 April 1988. Accident occurred at 24 000 feet.
Movie link: http://www.rationelepolitiek.nl/english/sourcepages/aircraft_movies.htm
Case Studies of Structural Design
A particularly interesting example of structural design for safety-critical systems is found in the turbine disks and blades of aeroengines - see cutaway of the Rolls-Royce Trent Engine. Blades and disks represent cutting edge examples of materials engineering and sophisticated design in action. The linked video shows foreign object damage (FOD) testing of turbine fan blades.
Eden Project and Lyon TGV Station