Discovery of Design Methodologies for the Integration of Multi-disciplinary Design Problems

Discovery of Design Methodologies for the Integration of Multi-disciplinary Design Problems by Cirrus Shakeri Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute In order to succeed in today’s global, competitive market, manufacturing industries need continuous improvements in their multi-disciplinary design processes. These improvements should result in expending fewer resources on the design process while achieving better quality and more environmentally friendly products. The current approach for improving design processes is mostly based on intuitive observations followed by incremental changes to the existing methodologies. However, today’s fast-paced world needs rapid incorporation of new technologies and methods into design methodologies. Recent advances in the application of Artificial Intelligence to design-Multi-agent Design Systems in particular-provide an opportunity to accomplish this goal. The inter-disciplinary collaboration between Computer Science and Engineering Design provides the means to develop systematic and holistic approaches for constructing superior design methodologies. An innovative approach has been developed that is based on simulating the design process using a multi-agent system that mimics the behavior of the design team. The multi-