Bond graph analysis in robust engineering design

Abstract

Within engineering design, optimization often involves building models of working systems to improve design objectives such as performance, reliability and cost. Bond graph models express systems in terms of energy flow and can be used to identify key factors that influence system behaviour. Robust Engineering Design (RED) is a strategy for the optimization of systems through experimentation and empirical modelling; however, experiments can often be prohibitively expensive for large or complex systems. By using bond graphs as a front-end to RED, experiments on systems could be designed more efficiently, reducing the number of experiments required for accurate empirical modelling. Two case study examples are given which show that bond graphs can be used to good effect in the empirical analysis of engineering systems.