ENGINEERING DESIGN(KG22803)
Bachelor Of Oil And Gas Engineering
Chapter 3: Formulation of Design
Problem and Design Concept
By: Dr. Emma Suali
Faculty of Engineering
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.1 Problem Solving Process
3.2 General systematic approach
3.3 Requirement list
3.1 Problem Solving Process
Problem Solving Process
• Designers are often confronted with tasks containing problems they
cannot solve immediately.
• Problem solving in different areas of application and at different levels
of concretisation is a characteristic of their work.
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Components of a problem
• A problem has three components:
1. an undesirable initial state, i.e. the existence of an unsatisfactory
situation
2. a desirable goal state, i.e. the realisation of a satisfactory situation
3. obstacles that prevent a transformation from the undesirable initial
state to the desirable goal state at a particular point in time.
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Obstacle to transformation
• An obstacle that prevents a transformation can arise from the following:
– The means to overcome the obstacle are unknown and have to be found
(synthesis or operator problem).
– The means are known, but they are so numerous or involve so many
combinations that a systematic investigation is impossible (interpolation
problem, combination and selection problem).
– The goals are only known vaguely or are not formulated clearly. Finding a
solution involves continuous deliberation and the removal of conflicts until a
satisfactory situation is reached (dialectic problem, search and application
problem).
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Characteristics of a problem
• A problem has the following typical characteristics:
• • Complexity: many components are involved and these components,
through links of different strength, influence each other.
• • Uncertainty: not all requirements are known; not all criteria are
established; the effect of a partial solution on the overall solution or on
other partial solutions is not fully understood, or only emerges
gradually. The difficulties become more pronounced if the
characteristics of the problem area change with time.
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A task and a problem
• A task is distinct from a problem because:
• • A task imposes mental requirements for which various means and
methods are available to assist. An example is the design of a shaft with
given loads, connecting dimensions and production methods.
• A specific design task can, for example, turn out to be a problem when looked at
more closely. Many large tasks can be divided into subtasks, some of which can
reveal difficult subproblems. On the other hand, it is sometimes possible for a
problem to be solved by fulfilling several subtasks in a previously unknown
combination.
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Characteristics of Good Problem Solvers
• 1. Intelligence and creativity
– Analytical approaches are often emphasised.
– Having well-structured factual knowledge.
– an inspirational force that generates new ideas or produces novel combinations of existing ideas,
leading to further solutions or deeper understanding. Creativity is often associated with an
intuitive, synthesizing approach
– Able to deal with fuzzy data
• 2. Decision making behavior
– Recognise dependencies
– Estimate importance and urgency
– Balance between continuity and flexibility in achieving the goals
– Able to react to failures via corrective action
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3.2 General systematic approach
General Systematic approach
1. Define goals by formulating the overall goal, the individual subgoals and their
importance. This ensures the motivation to solve the task and supports insight into
the problem.
2. Clarify conditions by defining the initial and boundary constraints.
3. Dispel prejudice to ensure the most wide-ranging search for solutions possible and
to avoid logical errors.
4. Search for variants to find a number of possible solutions or combinations of
solutions from which the best can be selected.
5. Evaluate based on the goals and conditions.
6. Make decisions. This is facilitated by objective evaluations. Without decisions and
experiencing their consequences there can be no progress.
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Identifying opportunities
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Classification
Scheme
15
Selection
chart
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Point system for
use-value analysis
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Binary
evaluation of
solution
variants
3.3 Requirement list
Requirement
list
• Please self-study Chapter 5, Engineering
Design, A systematic Approach, Pahl et al.
Identifying the Essential Problems from the Requirements List
• Step 1. Eliminate personal preferences.
• Step 2. Omit requirements that have no direct bearing on the function
and the essential constraints.
• Step 3. Transform quantitative into qualitative data and reduce them to
essential statements.
• Step 4. As far as it is purposeful, generalise the results of the previous
step.
• Step 5. Formulate the problem in solution-neutral terms.
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Thank you
