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SFB 805:  Control of Uncertainties in Load Carrying Systems in Mechanical Engineering

Subject Area Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Mathematics
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Term from 2009 to 2020
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 57157498
 
Final Report Year 2021

Final Report Abstract

Technical systems satisfy human needs – at best sustainably and safely: If two systems A and B fulfil the same function, then the system achieving the same function with (i) less effort, (ii) greater availability and (iii) greater acceptability is preferable. Thus, all three quality dimensions are mentioned. Effort includes the cost of materials, energy, installation space and thereby all costs of a technical system including social costs. Acceptability is achieved, for example, through legal conformity and by maximising functional quality, i.e. by minimising the deviation of the actual function from the target function. Safety and sustainability are the two most important criteria in the design, manufacture and operation of technical systems in an environment characterised by uncertainty. Taguchi's Robust Design, which was developed in the middle of the last century and is widely validated and used today, is a set of methods for maximising the functional quality of a product. The Sonderforschungsbereich 805 "Mastering Uncertainty in Load-bearing Mechanical Engineering Systems", funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft from 2009 to 2021, further developed Taguchi's ideas: as with Robust Design, all phases of the product life cycle are analysed in order to on the one hand, control the propagation of uncertainty downstream from production to use. On the other hand, this analysis allows for an upstream learning process from the feedback of product use. By considering not only functional quality but all quality dimensions, Robust Design evolves to Sustainable Systems Design, which follows the paradigm "maximise quality subject to functionality". The methods, technologies and strategies for controlling uncertainty in function, acceptability and boundary conditions form the methodological core of the SFB. Through the cooperation of mathematicians, engineers, lawyers and linguists at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, the research goal could be comprehensively achieved. This applies in three respects: First, a consistent conceptualisation of uncertainty was achieved, encompassing data, model and structural uncertainty on the one hand and stochastic uncertainty, uncertainty and ignorance on the other. Structural uncertainty, which is identified as important in Taguchi's systems design of product development according to Pahl and Beitz (cf. also VDI 2221) but is not actually treated, is highlighted. The SFB 805 closes this gap, which is essential for the optimal design and usage of structures. Second, the SFB has developed methods to detect and quantify data and model uncertainty. Third, and certainly most importantly, the SFB has further developed and validated the strategies and associated methods and technologies for robustness, flexibility and resilience, and has classified them and made them calculable and predictable through proven metrics. This is especially true for resilience, which is on everyone's lips today. The scientific tradition of Galileo begins where things are quantifiable and comprehensible. The SFB, with its distinction between static and dynamic resilience and with its proven metrics as the k resilience, had a significant impact on pathing the way for substantial resilience research. In addition to many technologies, methods, patent applications and three spin-offs, the SFB team is particularly proud of three demonstrator systems, namely the 3D servo press, the sensor-active and modular MAFDS load-bearing system, and a completely new active chassis technology. All of the SFB's methods were successfully validated on these demonstrators and show their usefulness as well as their applicability for many technical systems.

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