Synthesis and emergence in engineering design problem solving

The need of the development of computer support techniques for engineering design requires a thorough understanding of the design activity. In this paper, design problem solving methodologies are investigated, and a model of the design process is proposed, based on design synthesis-analysis transformations. The model enables formalizing the problem solving process and promotes a better understanding of design synthesis, analysis, and the phenomenon of emergence in manufacturing. A methodological framework for computer-assisted design synthesis is described, and some aspects concerning its practical realization are discussed.