On the Integration of Experimental Data, Numerical Simulation Results and Analytical Modeling Knowledge into the Process of Engineering Design and Evaluation

In early stages of the design process, analytical models, results from numerical simulations or experimental data from prototypes are some of the major sources of knowledge available to the engineer. These qualitatively distinct sources thus serve as the major basis of all subsequent decision making in the engineering design process. Based on the knowledge of the physical dimensions of the design parameters the Pi-Theorem is used to derive the associated dimensionless groups of the design parameters. These dimensionless groups are shown to fulfill the necessary conditions commonly expected of evaluation parameters. These dimensionless groups thus serve as evaluation parameters for the purpose of engineering design object evaluation and play also a decisive role in the validation of analytical models with experimental data by the projection of the different sources of knowledge into one common appropriate lower-dimensional and physically meaningful transformation space.