Using DSMs in functionally driven explorative design experiments – an automation approach

Product architectures are often designed as evolutions or modifications of existing product platforms by adding new functionalities. However, there is still a limited ability to simultaneously modify the functions and the physical elements of a system (and the corresponding links between them). These relationships, which are usually static, limit the ability to discover new architectures, as well as to analyse architectures by simulation. In this paper, we demonstrate how DSMs can be connected to function-means models to enable 1) the simultaneous modification of functions, solutions and links of a product’s architecture and 2) the ability to export multiple DSMs from function models to use in simulations of non-functional properties of a product’s architecture (e.g., supply chain resilience) in digital design experiments. The initially identified multiple instances of architectures can be exported and communicated with other simulation and analysis tools, thereby enriching existing models with additional and more detailed information.