A comprehensive robust design approach for decision trade-offs in complex systems design

In this paper introduce a technique to reduce the effects of uncertainty an d incorporate flexibility in the design of complex engineering systems invo lving multiple decisionmakers. We focus on the uncertainty that is created when a disciplinary designer or design team must try to predict or model th e behavior of other disciplinary subsystems. teams, each of which may only have control over a portion of rite total set of system The design of a com plex system is performed by many different designers and design design vari ables. Modeling the interaction among these decision-makers and reducing th e effect caused by lack of global control by any one designer is the focus of this paper. We rue concepts from robust design to reduce the effects of decisions made during the design of one one subsystem on the performance of the rest of the system. Thats, in a situation where the cost of uncertaint y is high, these tools can be used to increase the robustness, or independe nce, of the subsystems, enabling designers to make more effective decisions . To demonstrate the usefulness of this approach, M;e consider a case study involving the design of a passenger aircraft.