Opportunities and limits of the working space model in product development

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Eckhard A. Kirchner
• Subject Area: Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443578519

Modelling of working space behavior and of interaction of working space via the interfaces is an open challenge in product development that is to be addressed by phenomenological description of working effects in technical products making experiential know how accessible early in the development process across scientific domains. So far the description of functions in media filled working spaces in analysis and synthesis in product development fails mostly either due to the limited applicability of experiential know how of experts as a phenomenological working space model or doe to the limited acceptance of such models. The goal of a working space model is the early and quantitative assessment of working space functions based on available data yielding physically motivated evaluation of basic engineering questions. The model needs to be compatible with expert tools used in the development process and need to deliver meaningful result based on the limited maturity of the data available. Thus, the following research topic need to be addressed:- Processes in media filled working spaces (material matter, electric charge, …) as important and representative functions can be modelled phenomenologically for static and transient cases, the risk of mal- or dis-function and the performance of wanted processes can be evaluated as a decisive criterion in early product development.- Coupling of balancing equations (Energy, matter, electric charge, …) and equations of state (General gas equation, …) for the working spaces is enabled to make experiential knowledge of experts accessible early in product development.- Physical limits of sample effects can be captured by the working space model through characteristic quantities of single working spaces and allow for a comparative assessment of variant during concept design phase. Hence, the goal is the enhancement of the working space model for the quantitative description of properties of technical system in product development. Due to the required focusing emphasis is first on gaseous and liquid (Newtonian) media under the assumption of slowly varying processes and laminar flow conditions in the working space. The model shall assist the product developer in evaluating the risk of undesired and the performance of desired functions.To support model creation a collection of sample working space models is established for different functions of technical systems on the one hand and limiting cases on the other. Furthermore, a procedure is required to analyze critical processes functions and operational conditions mathematically, the procedure needs to be tested and validated. Information about opportunities to cast the working space model into a virtual development tool needs to be compiled in order to describe complex problems with the enhanced working space model.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants