This volume introduces techniques to investigate reliability and robustness in engineering design, and provides an alternative interpretation of Design Optimization: the increasingly widely used method of Design Improvement. 

If you want to study design optimization in the context of concept-design, or New Product Design as it’s sometimes called, you will find the companion volume CAE And Design Optimization – Basics useful. The techniques outlined in this book are usually applied either to improve existing designs or to improve concepts that have been suggested by the techniques outlined for concept-design in the companion volume. 

While it’s not essential, a good grasp of the basic principles of statistics and probability will help you tremendously. Several essential aspects are covered in this book, although in a qualitative fashion. You may want to treat the chapter titled Statistics – A Worm’s Eye View as a reference. If you choose to adopt this approach, at least a cursory reading of this chapter is strongly recommended.

To make the most of this book you should be an engineering student, in your third or final year of Mechanical Engineering. You should have access to licenses of HyperWorks, to the Altair website, and to an instructor who can guide you through your chosen projects or assignments.

The book can also be useful to working engineers faced with using HyperStudy for a project on short notice. It’s accompanied by a series of solved examples presented as videos with voice-over narration. The book is available both online and from Altair India. The PDF version is free: for printed versions, contact Altair India to check the price.

Areas covered include 

• limitations of linear optimization
• necessity of MOO, MDO and approaches such as the Pareto Optimal solution
• theory of DOE (Design of Experiments)
• essential theory of statistics including ANOVA
• approaches in DOE including variable screening, contorl factors, etc.
• examples using HyperStudy, HyperView and HyperMesh