Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Spanning The Complexity Chasm: A Research Approach To Move From Simple To Complex Engineering Systems, Vimal Viswanathan, Julie Linsey

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

A multistudy approach is presented that allows design thinking of complex systems to be studied by triangulating causal controlled lab findings with coded data from more complex products. A case study illustration of this approach is provided. During the conceptual design of engineering systems, designers face many cognitive challenges, including design fixation, errors in their mental models, and the sunk cost effect. These factors need to be mitigated for the generation of effective ideas. Understanding the effects of these challenges in a realistic and complex engineering system is especially difficult due to a variety of factors influencing the results. Studying …