Large Engineering Systems documents the proceedings of the International Symposium held at the University of Manitoba, Canada on August 9-12, 1976. This book compiles papers on the technology of large engineering systems. The topics discussed include the analysis of an automobile body by finite element method; finite-element solution of boundary integral equations; optimum design of stiffened plate girders; and tuning of miniaturized analog hybrid circuits. The sparsity in large systems and trans-shipment problems; finite difference method with graded lattices; Kron's multidimensional electromagnetic networks; and analyses of large systems are also deliberated. This text likewise covers the transient phenomena in large electrical power systems; modeling for regional electric power supply system; and efficient method for reliability evaluation of large-scale systems. This publication is a good source for engineers who intend to acquire knowledge on large-scale engineering systems.

An overview of engineering systems that describes the new challenges posed for twenty-first-century engineers by today's highly complex sociotechnical systems. Engineering, for much of the twentieth century, was mainly about artifacts and inventions. Now, it's increasingly about complex systems. As the airplane taxis to the gate, you access the Internet and check email with your PDA, linking the communication and transportation systems. At home, you recharge your plug-in hybrid vehicle, linking transportation to the electricity grid. Today's large-scale, highly complex sociotechnical systems converge, interact, and depend on each other in ways engineers of old could barely have imagined. As scale, scope, and complexity increase, engineers consider technical and social issues together in a highly integrated way as they design flexible, adaptable, robust systems that can be easily modified and reconfigured to satisfy changing requirements and new technological opportunities. Engineering Systems offers a comprehensive examination of such systems and the associated emerging field of study. Through scholarly discussion, concrete examples, and history, the authors consider the engineer's changing role, new ways to model and analyze these systems, the impacts on engineering education, and the future challenges of meeting human needs through the technologically enabled systems of today and tomorrow.

A new approach to safety, based on systems thinking, that is more effective, less costly, and easier to use than current techniques. Engineering has experienced a technological revolution, but the basic engineering techniques applied in safety and reliability engineering, created in a simpler, analog world, have changed very little over the years. In this groundbreaking book, Nancy Leveson proposes a new approach to safety—more suited to today's complex, sociotechnical, software-intensive world—based on modern systems thinking and systems theory. Revisiting and updating ideas pioneered by 1950s aerospace engineers in their System Safety concept, and testing her new model extensively on real-world examples, Leveson has created a new approach to safety that is more effective, less expensive, and easier to use than current techniques. Arguing that traditional models of causality are inadequate, Leveson presents a new, extended model of causation (Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes, or STAMP), then shows how the new model can be used to create techniques for system safety engineering, including accident analysis, hazard analysis, system design, safety in operations, and management of safety-critical systems. She applies the new techniques to real-world events including the friendly-fire loss of a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter in the first Gulf War; the Vioxx recall; the U.S. Navy SUBSAFE program; and the bacterial contamination of a public water supply in a Canadian town. Leveson's approach is relevant even beyond safety engineering, offering techniques for “reengineering” any large sociotechnical system to improve safety and manage risk.

This handbook charts the new engineering paradigm of engineering systems. It brings together contributions from leading thinkers in the field and discusses the design, management and enabling policy of engineering systems. It contains explorations of core themes including technical and (socio-) organisational complexity, human behaviour and uncertainty. The text includes chapters on the education of future engineers, the way in which interventions can be designed, and presents a look to the future. This book follows the emergence of engineering systems, a new engineering paradigm that will help solve truly global challenges. This global approach is characterised by complex sociotechnical systems that are now co-dependent and highly integrated both functionally and technically as well as by a realisation that we all share the same: climate, natural resources, a highly integrated economical system and a responsibility for global sustainability goals. The new paradigm and approach requires the (re)designing of engineering systems that take into account the shifting dynamics of human behaviour, the influence of global stakeholders, and the need for system integration. The text is a reference point for scholars, engineers and policy leaders who are interested in broadening their current perspective on engineering systems design and in devising interventions to help shape societal futures.

These proceedings include tutorials and papers presented at the Sixth CSR Confer ence on the topic of Large Software Systems. The aim of the Conference was to identify solutions to the problems of developing and maintaining large software systems, based on approaches which are currently being undertaken by software practitioners. These proceedings are intended to make these solutions more widely available to the software industry. The papers from software practitioners describe: • important working systems, highlighting their problems and successes; • techniques for large system development and maintenance, including project management, quality management, incremental delivery, system security, in dependent V & V, and reverse engineering. In addition, academic and industrial researchers discuss the practical impact of current research in formal methods, object-oriented design and advanced environ ments. The keynote paper is provided by Professor Brian Warboys of ICL and the University of Manchester, who masterminded the development of the ICL VME Operating System, and the production of the first database-driven software en gineering environment (CADES). The proceedings commence with reports of the two tutorial sessions which preceded the conference: • Professor Keith Bennett of the Centre for Software Maintenance at Durham University on Software Maintenance; • Professor John McDermid of the University of York on Systems Engineering Environments for High Integrity Systems. The remaining papers deal with reports on existing systems (starting with Professor Warboys' keynote paper), approaches to large systems development, methods for large systems maintenance and the expected impact of current research.

The book is based on an international research project that analyzed sixty LEPs, among them the Boston Harbor cleanup; the first phase of subway construction in Ankara, Turkey; a hydro dam on the Caroni River in Venezuela; and the construction of offshore oil platforms west of Flor, Norway. As the number, complexity, and scope of large engineering projects (LEPs) increase worldwide, the huge stakes may endanger the survival of corporations and threaten the stability of countries that approach these projects unprepared. According to the authors, the "front-end" engineering of institutional arrangements and strategic systems is a far greater determinant of an LEP's success than are the more tangible aspects of project engineering and management. The book is based on an international research project that analyzed sixty LEPs, among them the Boston Harbor cleanup; the first phase of subway construction in Ankara, Turkey; a hydro dam on the Caroni River in Venezuela; and the construction of offshore oil platforms west of Flor, Norway. The authors use the research results to develop an experience-based theoretical framework that will allow managers to understand and respond to the complexity and uncertainty inherent in all LEPs. In addition to managers and scholars of large-scale projects, the book will be of interest to those studying the relationship between institutions and strategy, risk management, and corporate governance in general. Contributors Bjorn Andersen, Richard Brealey, Ian Cooper, Serghei Floricel, Michel Habib, Brian Hobbs, Donald R. Lessard, Pascale Michaud, Roger Miller, Xavier Olleros

With their ability to cross traditional boundaries and achieve a level of functionality greater than their component elements, mega-systems have helped corporations and government organizations around the world resolve complex challenges that they otherwise couldn't address with stand-alone systems. Engineering Mega-Systems: The Challenge of System

Design Engineering and Science teaches the theory and practice of axiomatic design (AD). It explains the basics of how to conceive and deliver solutions to a variety of design problems. The text shows how a logical framework and scientific basis for design can generate creative solutions in many fields, including engineering, materials, organizations, and a variety of large systems. Learning to apply the systematic methods advocated by AD, a student can construct designs that lead to better environmental sustainability and to increased quality of life for the end-user at the same time reducing the overall cost of the product development process. Examples of previous innovations that take advantage of AD methods include: • on-line electric vehicle design for electric buses with wireless power supply; • mobile harbors that allow unloading of large ships in shallow waters; • microcellular plastics with enhanced toughness and lower weight; and • organizational changes in companies and universities resulting in more efficient and competitive ways of working. The book is divided into two parts. Part I provides detailed and thorough instruction in the fundamentals of design, discussing why design is so important. It explains the relationship between and the selection of functional requirements, design parameters and process variables, and the representation of design outputs. Part II presents multiple applications of AD, including examples from manufacturing, healthcare, and materials processing. Following a course based on this text students learn to create new products and design bespoke manufacturing systems. They will gain insight into how to create imaginative design solutions that satisfy customer needs and learn to avoid introducing undue complexity into their designs. This informative text provides practical and academic insight for engineering design students and will help instructors teach the subject in a novel and more rigorous fashion. Their knowledge of AD will stand former students in good stead in the workplace as these methods are both taught and used in many leading industrial concerns.

A guide to using the power of design flexibility to improve the performance of complex technological projects, for designers, managers, users, and analysts. Project teams can improve results by recognizing that the future is inevitably uncertain and that by creating flexible designs they can adapt to eventualities. This approach enables them to take advantage of new opportunities and avoid harmful losses. Designers of complex, long-lasting projects—such as communication networks, power plants, or hospitals—must learn to abandon fixed specifications and narrow forecasts. They need to avoid the “flaw of averages,” the conceptual pitfall that traps so many designs in underperformance. Failure to allow for changing circumstances risks leaving significant value untapped. This book is a guide for creating and implementing value-enhancing flexibility in design. It will be an essential resource for all participants in the development and operation of technological systems: designers, managers, financial analysts, investors, regulators, and academics. The book provides a high-level overview of why flexibility in design is needed to deliver significantly increased value. It describes in detail methods to identify, select, and implement useful flexibility. The book is unique in that it explicitly recognizes that future outcomes are uncertain. It thus presents forecasting, analysis, and evaluation tools especially suited to this reality. Appendixes provide expanded explanations of concepts and analytic tools.

An up-to-date guide for using massive amounts of data and novel technologies to design, build, and maintain better systems engineering Systems Engineering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Big Data, Novel Technologies, and Modern Systems Engineering offers a guide to the recent changes in systems engineering prompted by the current challenging and innovative industrial environment called the Fourth Industrial Revolution—INDUSTRY 4.0. This book contains advanced models, innovative practices, and state-of-the-art research findings on systems engineering. The contributors, an international panel of experts on the topic, explore the key elements in systems engineering that have shifted towards data collection and analytics, available and used in the design and development of systems and also in the later life-cycle stages of use and retirement. The contributors address the issues in a system in which the system involves data in its operation, contrasting with earlier approaches in which data, models, and algorithms were less involved in the function of the system. The book covers a wide range of topics including five systems engineering domains: systems engineering and systems thinking; systems software and process engineering; the digital factory; reliability and maintainability modeling and analytics; and organizational aspects of systems engineering. This important resource: Presents new and advanced approaches, methodologies, and tools for designing, testing, deploying, and maintaining advanced complex systems Explores effective evidence-based risk management practices Describes an integrated approach to safety, reliability, and cyber security based on system theory Discusses entrepreneurship as a multidisciplinary system Emphasizes technical merits of systems engineering concepts by providing technical models Written for systems engineers, Systems Engineering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution offers an up-to-date resource that contains the best practices and most recent research on the topic of systems engineering.