In economy nowadays, the act of innovation is in general social; it requires the management of knowledge, and the techniques and methodologies to drive it. Innovation is not the product of one isolated intelligence, instead, it is the result of a multi-disciplinary workgroup lead by a process or a methodology. The conceptual design, which is found in the first stages of the innovation process, represents one of the most important challenges in industry nowadays. One of the main challenges faced by chemical industries related to the conceptual design phase is to provide the means in the form of methods and computational tools, for solving problems systematically, at the same time that benefiting from the collective efforts of individual intelligences involved. Hence, the main objective of this work is to provide a solution to improve the creative capacity of a team involved in the innovation process, in particular the preliminary (critical) phase of conceptual design. Consequently, it is important to understand the techniques, methods and tools that best support the generation of novel ideas and creative solutions. In addition, it is necessary to study the contribution of information and communication technologies as the mean to support collaboration. Web technologies are considered as complementary tools to implement methods and techniques in collaborative design, and particularly in the conceptual design stage. These technologies allow setting up distributed collaborative environments to bring together the resources and the experts who can relate the existing pieces of knowledge to new contexts. It is the synergy created in this kind of environment, which allow producing valuable concepts and ideas in the form of Collective Intelligence. Nevertheless in most existing solutions for collective intelligence or crowdsourcing environments, they do not report the use of a particular methodology to improve the participants' creativity. The solution in this work describes a social network service that enables users to cooperatively solve problems oriented (but not limited) to the phase of conceptual design. In this work we propose that the use of Collective Intelligence in combination with the model TRIZ-CBR could lead the creative efforts in a team to develop innovative solutions. With this work we are looking for connecting experts from one particular field, TRIZ practitioners and stakeholders with the objective to solve problems in collaboration unlashing the collective intelligence to improve creativity. This work uses the basis of the concept named "Open CAI 2.0" to propose a solution in the form of a theoretical framework. The contributions seek to move the development of the field in Computer Aided Innovation a step forward.

The motive of the present thesis has been the realization of lack of cultural impact and meaningful representation within public open urban spaces that fall in between areas of urban planning and construction in the GCC cities. In pursuit of aiding towards the reclamation of meaningful spaces, this study demonstrates methods of providing a framework of cultural context design during the conceptual phase of the urban planning process. In doing so, the emphasis falls both on public users’ and professionals’ opinions and perception regarding cultural elements, physical experience and design processes that take place within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cities. The understanding and framework of levels of comprehension and awareness of cultural implementation derives from the theory of the Circuit of Culture, resulting both in an epistemological contemplation of the existing situation and the inter-relationship between culture and design. Meanwhile, the study of the elements that define the Circuit of Culture starts to form a strong cultural reference point for the future amelioration of definition of strong identity in-between spaces, within the urban context. The elements of this theory are based on the five aspects of Production, Identity, Regulation, Consumption and Representation. The implementation of these cultural elements are drawn in reference to the Double Diamond design model, considering its four aspects of discovery, definition, development and delivery, where the first two stages make up the conceptual phase, and the latter two stages make up the implementation phase of design. Therefore, while the thesis stresses the problem of cultural identity of in-between and vacuum spaces of the GCC cities, it suggests the Circuit of Culture as a method for reinforcing a thorough cultural consideration within the conceptual phase of design (discovery and definition). The thesis seeks to develop the process of design integration through an evolving methodological approach for studying the cultural development and cultural concern of urban spaces that fall in-between well planned schemes. In this work, cultural identity and cultural representation are of fundamental importance.

abstract: High performing and sustainable building certification bodies continue to update their requirements, leading to scope modification of certifications, and an increasing number of viable sources of environmental information for building materials. In conjunction, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is seeing increasing demand for such environmental product information. The industry and certifications are moving from using single attribute environmental information about building materials to lifecycle based information to inform their design decisions. This dissertation seeks to understand the current practices, and then focus on strategies to effectively utilize newer sources of environmental product information in high performance building design. The first phase of research used a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand how the numerous sources of environmental information are currently used in the building design process. The second phase asked two focus groups of experienced AEC professionals to develop a Message Sequence Chart (MSC) that documents the conceptual design process for a recently designed building. Then, the focus group participants integrated a new sustainability requirement for building materials, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), into their project, and documented the adjustments to their specific design process in a second, modified MSC highlighting potential drivers for inclusion of EPDs. Finally, the author examines the broader applicability of these drivers through case studies. Specifically, 19 certified high-performance building (HPB) case studies, for reviewing the impact of three different potential drivers on the design team’s approach to considering environmental product information during conceptual design of a HPB, as well as the projects certification level. LEED certification has changed the design of buildings, and the new information sources for building materials will inform the way the industry selects building materials. Meanwhile, these information sources will need to expand to include a growing number of products, and potentially more data as the industry’s understanding of the impacts of building materials develops. This research expands upon previous research on LEED certification to illustrates that owner engagement and commitment to the HPB process is a critical success factor for the use of environmental product information about building materials. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

O projeto de produtos e sistemas técnicos complexos requer a compreensão em nível de sistemas e subsistemas para formular soluções eficientes e integradas ao seu contexto. Para auxiliar esta compreensão, o conhecimento de projeto deve ser representado utilizando níveis adequados de abstração de acordo com a fase do projeto. A fase de projeto conceitual requer tipos de representação capazes de atingir um alto nível de abstração para a exploração de conceitos que conduzam a soluções criativas. O paradigma da orientação a objetos, que é fundamentado pela abstração, faz parte da engenharia de software, mas também pode ser aplicado para o projeto de artefatos físicos porque permite a representação dos elementos do mundo real através de uma linguagem simples, acessível e com alto nível de abstração. Ademais, o paradigma da orientação a objetos permite a reutilização do conhecimento de projeto devido à sua capacidade de estruturar a informação em um formato adequado para isto. O presente trabalho propõe um framework para representar o conhecimento de projeto de produto aplicando o paradigma da orientação a objeto. Inicialmente, foram identificados os elementos conceituais da tese e suas relações, para na sequência definir o modelo do framework e o seu método de aplicação O framework utiliza uma linguagem de representação diagramática que pode evoluir desde um mapa mental, com elementos diversificados e pouco ordenados, até uma rede estruturada de classes e relacionamentos em um modelo de classes. Um modelo de classes pode concentrar conhecimento sobre o projeto, servindo como uma estrutura geral que conecta e relaciona diferentes blocos de informação associados aos produtos e sistemas que estão sendo elaborados. A verificação da aplicabilidade do framework foi realizada por especialistas da área de design mediante o desenvolvimento de um projeto de produto em nível conceitual e do preenchimento de questionário de avaliação. / The design of complex technical products requires understanding at the system and subsystem level to formulate efficient and integrated solutions to their context. To support this understanding, the project knowledge can be represented using appropriate levels of abstraction according to the project phase. The conceptual design phase requires types of representation that reach a high level of abstraction for the exploration of concepts that lead to creative solutions. The object-oriented paradigm is based on abstraction and is part of software engineering, but can also be applied to the design of physical artifacts because it allows the representation of realworld elements through simple, accessible and in high-level abstraction language. In addition, the object orientation paradigm supports the reusability of project knowledge due to its capacity to structure the information in patterns. The present work proposes a framework to represent product design knowledge using the objectoriented paradigm First, the conceptual elements of the thesis and their relationships were identified, after; the framework model and their method of application were constructed. The framework uses a diagrammatic representation language in which a mental map, with diversified and unordered elements, can progress into a structured network of classes and relationships in a class model. A class model can focus knowledge about the project, serving as a general structure that connects and relates different blocks of information associated with the products and systems being developed. The verification of the applicability of the framework was carried out by specialists in the design area through the development of a product design at conceptual level and the answering an evaluation questionnaire.

The traditional pen-paper sketching is extensively used in the early stages of product design as it supports creative exploration of product concepts and provides a fluidic mode for the expression of ideas. The Computer Aided Design (CAD) models support the later stages of design and manufacturing process. Faithful conversion of the designer’s ideas from concept sketches to the CAD models is a skill intensive and time consuming exercise which reduces the overall productivity of the organization. Providing computer based support can help the designer, in several ways, by reducing demand on the skill and allow focusing more on creative exploration of the concepts. Towards that, the thesis presents methodologies to understand the product concept sketches, support cognitive activities like perceiving the composition and behaviour, and create and interact with the sketches, directly in 3D. To begin with, traditional 2D sketches of product concepts are studied mainly to explores the psychological (cognitive) and physiological (musculoskeletal) activities of the designer in the context of the product being designed. A sketching application is created for capturing the sketches created using a tablet in digitized form. The captured data is analyzed based on the identified parameters. A grouping methodology is devised to group the stroke based on the observations which are akin to Gestalt laws of perceptual organization. This functional grouping or segmentation is used to identify the mental model of the product concept and the design rationale behind it. In concept sketches, annotations carry information like behaviour, functionality and usage. These wishful declarations need to be verified through simulation! To simulate the behavior of the components identified by the functional segmentation method, a kinematic model is defined where the designers interactively describe the constituents like joints, fixed links, inputs, etc. The interactive simulation changes the underlying kinematic model and makes the sketches to move to show the behavior. This system also provides methods to verify boundary constraints and allows creating patterns. Traditional 2D sketching suffers from several deficiencies. To overcome these, a novel direct 3D sketching methodology is proposed with stereo vision and haptic feedback. Different types of strokes creations like curves, strips and sweep surfaces, directly in 3D space, are demonstrated. Further, to provide control over stroke creation process, visual and haptic feedbacks are studied. Haptic rendering schemes for stroke generation are explored based on mechanics of sketching. Using the curve generation methods, surface generation schemes are devised. Mainly two types of schemes are explored (a) sweep surface and (b) Hatching surfaces. To support constrained concept exploration, two types of haptic constraints are modeled and their application is demonstrated in constraining a sketch within a boundary and outside a boundary. Motion constraints are implemented by simulating the behaviour of identified components’ motions. Two types of motion are implemented (a) Linear translation and (b) Rotation about an axis. Finally, a sketch based distributed collaboration method is presented to enable design interaction in the context of global product development. Several issues related to the realization of a sketch based collaborative conceptual design system are explored and, one such instance is demonstrated through experiments.

La production de masse dans l’industrie aéronautique a été surtout poussée par l’objectif de maximiser les performances technologiques, et de minimiser les coûts de fabrication. Dans le respect des règles de sureté et de sécurité établies par les organismes de certification, le management traditionnel de l’innovation a consisté avant tout à mettre en œuvre une approche en « technology-push ». Le développement des avions a ainsi surtout été tiré par les résultats de projets de recherche technologique. Cependant, la compétitivité et la complexité du marché actuel tendent à modifier cette approche. Les besoins des clients évoluent, changent et se diversifient suivant de multiples profiles spécifiques, qui doivent être pris en compte très tôt dans les nouveaux programmes. Afin d’assurer une valeur et différentiation importantes à toutes les parties prenantes, la politique d’innovation doit passer de la production de masse à une production personnalisée. Cela nécessite d’intégrer les approches en « technology-push » et « market-read » dès la phase préliminaire d’innovation. Pour piloter cette phase par la valeur, ce travail de thèse a permis de fournir aux managers de programmes un support méthodologique, appelé Concept-to-Value. A la croisée entre les travaux sur la Planification Stratégique et la Conception Conceptuelle, notre contribution porte sur l’amélioration des méthodologies existantes pour l’intégration du Business et de l’Ingénierie. Concept-to-Value supporte une collaboration plus agile et intégrée entre des acteurs multidisciplinaires: un langage et un modèle de valeur communs représentent leurs Connaissances, Problèmes et Solutions d’innovation. Enfin, un processus de convergence est aussi défini pour amener la phase préliminaire à délivrer des concepts d’avions créateurs de valeur. / The mass production of aircrafts has been mainly led by the objective of both maximizing technological performances and minimizing the manufacturing costs. Within also the constraints of safety and security rules defined by certification organisms, the traditional innovation management has consisted above all in implementing a “technology-push” approach. New developed aircrafts have been then mostly driven by Research and Technology projects outputs. Nevertheless, current market competitiveness and complexity lead to change this approach. The needs of aeronautical customers evolve, change and become diversified, which raise multiple specific profiles to be taken into account as early as possible in today’s development programs. In order to ensure high value and differentiation perception by all the stakeholders, the innovation policy has to shift from mass production to mass customization, and to integrate both “market-read” and ‘technology-push” approaches in the preliminary phase of innovation. The goal of this PhD thesis is to provide the aircraft program managers with a methodological support, named Concept-to-Value, to steer by value the so called Fuzzy Front End of Innovation stage in the literature. At the bridge between the Product Planning and Conceptual Design research works, our contribution improves the existing methodologies on the Business and Engineering domains integration. Concept-to-Value brings a more agile and integrated collaboration of multidisciplinary players: a common language and value model represent their innovation Knowledge, Problems and Solutions. Finally, a convergence process is also defined to conduct the preliminary phase and to deliver high value aircraft concepts.

Busca-se encontrar a solução de compromissos para o desenvolvimento de uma aeronave multifuncional, de aviação geral, a pistão, que atenda às necessidades do mercado brasileiro e cujas características de desempenho estejam próximas ou superiores às das aeronaves típicas da aviação geral que operam nos Estados Unidos e Brasil. O objetivo principal do trabalho consistiu em desenvolver uma metodologia para projetos conceituais de aeronaves de pequeno porte e de uma família de aeronaves de forma que a geradora da família possa ser facilmente convertida em configurações diferentes, conservando o maior número de partes em comum, mantendo as características de desempenho almejadas e cumprindo com os requisitos de certificação impostos para a categoria. Apresentam-se definições, conhecimentos e técnicas na área de projetos aeronáuticos e descrevem-se de forma sucinta os aspectos mais importantes que envolvem o projeto conceitual. Em seguida é exposta a metodologia utilizada e são definidos os objetivos e os compromissos. Finalmente são apresentadas tabelas geradas pelo software PCA-Projeto Conceitual de Aeronaves e gráficos contendo as caracterizações onde se enquadra o objeto de estudo, a discussão e as conclusões da investigação. / The purpose of this work is to derive compromise solutions for the conceptual design of a general aviation aircraft, aimed to fulfill the requirements of the brazilian market. Fitted with a conventional piston engine, such aircraft should however sport technical and flight characteristics which are equal or better than those found on existing typical general aviation aircraft in operation both in Brazil and United States. The main objective of the thesis consisted of development of methodology for the conceptual design of a family of light aircraft so that the \"core aircraft\" can be regarded as a platform for the derivation and conversion to any of the family members - two, four and six - seats. Commonality of parts to the highest degree possible, achievement of a set of performance and efficiency goals and compliance with the existing certification requirements for the aircraft category are some of the main project drivers. The work presents the major topics definitions, the main specific techniques required in the subject of aircraft conceptual design followed by the key aspects associated with such an undertaking. The employed methodology is presented next, followed by the set objectives and compromise solutions so reached. Finally, the results for the three aircraft family are presented both graphically and in a set of data tables complemented by a few print-outs of the computer screen outputs generated by the software developed - PCA, which embodies the whole work carried out and can be used for the further improvements in the future. The conclusions present some critical analysis points and suggestions for the future work.

Balancing is usually done in the later phases of creating a game to make sure everything comes together to an enjoyable experience. Most of the time balancing is done with a series of playthroughs by the designers or by outsourced play testers and the imbalances found are corrected followed by more playthroughs. This method occupies a lot of time and might therefore not find everything. In this study I use information gathered from interviews with experienced designers and designer texts along with features from methods frequently used for aiding the designers to make a conceptual design of a tool that is aimed towards simplifying the process of balancing and reducing the amount of work hours having to be spent on this phase.

Major bridge stakeholders such as federal and provincial transportation agencies are in dire need for objective knowledge-based systems that assist decision-makers in the selection of bridge type. Besides that, estimating bridge construction costs at the conceptual design stage is an increasing necessity for accurate budgeting and effective allocation of funding. Whilst multiple bridge management systems have already been developed; they still possess major drawbacks pertaining to interoperability and integration with complex time and cost optimization-related problem solving. In another perspective, infrastructure restoration has been backlogged with multifaceted factors that have captured the attention of municipal and federal authorities. Several successful integrations of bridge information management systems (BrIMS) with decision support systems and computer-aided engineering design solutions have significantly leveraged downstream processes of bridge maintenance operations and inspired many researchers. The subjective nature of evaluating bridge conditions and deteriorations is the main factor that influences bridge maintenance, repair, and replacement decisions. In order to overcome this shortcoming, the objectives of this study are intended to demonstrate the viability of integrating a decision support system with a stochastic gamma deterioration model utilizing a probabilistic fuzzy logic strategic approach at the conceptual design stage. In summary, this study presents a systematic multi-objective knowledge-based approach for selecting bridge type, forecasting elemental deteriorations, linear scheduling, and estimating construction costs at the conceptual design stage. The proposed methodology comprises a framework to deploy a system that automatically generates conceptual cost estimates by integrating objective functions with bridge information modeling (BrIM) through an external data interchange protocol in synchrony with interoperability standards. Deployment of the developed system shall minimize the degree of subjectivity involved while decision makings pertaining to bridge projects and assists designers and cost engineers obtain results in an integrated quantitative, qualitative, and systematic manner. The successful deployment of the expert system signifies a technological achievement of novelty pertaining to the integration of bridge information modeling (BrIM) concept with probabilistic fuzzy logic strategic approaches at the conceptual design stage of bridges.

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