Although computational simulation is extensively employed in industry, its wider use is limited by the complexity of the geometric models involved. This limitation is due to the excessive number of human hours, ranging from days to months, required to transfer information from a computer aided design (CAD) model to a computer aided engineering (CAE) model suitable for simulation. CAD models frequently involve a level of detail much greater than that required to perform a computational simulation with a CAE system. The preparation of CAD models for simulation, including mesh generation, is still a challenging bottleneck that needs to be resolved to enable realisation of the full potential of simulation tools in industry. This challenge is also a crucial factor delaying the industrial uptake of, the often computationally superior, high-order methods. Current research is focused on the development of algorithms for de-featuring complex CAD models. A major drawback of this process is the requirement for human expertise and manual interaction with CAD systems and geometry cleaning tools. Although engineers are aided by the semi-automatic tools that are included in many existing commercial mesh generation packages, such as COMSOL, ANSYS, CATIA, SolidWorks, Patran, MSC, CADfix, ESI Visual Environment, de-featuring cannot be fully automatised. In addition, it is usually not possible to know, a priori, the effect of de-featuring on the results of a simulation because this process depends upon the physical problem and the level of approximation required. At the heart of the problem is the traditional hierarchical paradigm implemented in many commercial mesh generators. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a new computational environment that includes a feature-independent mesh generation paradigm and plug--and--play libraries to enable direct integration of the meshes into existing commercial and research solvers. The proposed approach is disruptive, as it proposes the development of unconventional computational approaches, not only at the stage of generating suitable meshes for computational simulations but also requires the incorporation of new plug-and-play libraries into existing solvers. The libraries will be delivered as part of this project and it will follow the rationale used in commercial software where the user can select a different type of element depending on the demands of a particular simulation. The advantage of the proposed mesh generation technique is not restricted to removing the bottleneck that has been highlighted by many industries that routinely use computational engineering in their design cycles. In addition, the new meshes will completely remove the uncertainty introduced by de-featuring CAD models. Instead of relying on the opinion of experts, to decide which features might not be relevant in a simulation, the CAD model will not be altered, leading to higher fidelity simulations and more confidence in the results. The proposed research is timely, tackling a problem that has been highlighted in the last three years by independent agencies (e.g. NASA), international associations dedicated to computer modelling (e.g. NAFEMS) and the private sector (e.g. Pointwise Inc.). Since the mid 1990s the research has focused on the development of tools for faster de-featuring. The fact that this issue has not been resolved in over two decades, suggests that the radical new approach proposed here, pursuing an orthogonal research direction, in which no de-featuring is needed, can lead to a breakthrough.

To create many of the complex products and systems we have around us we have needed advanced technology. But to create the volume and complexity of products we have also needed complex organisational systems and processes. Large complex organisations have in particular relied on the Systems Engineering process, to help guide complex projects to completion. Many products, such as aircraft, only exist because of this systematic approach. But this systematic approach has a downside. To maintain control of a complex design it is necessary to fix ideas and concepts, and work through detail in a top-down approach. This flow down keeps development within the bounds of the original idea or concept, but naturally prevents innovation and variation. Such variation and innovation are in some ways the enemy of the controlled organisation needed to keep a global enterprise on track. One great fear is the phenomenon of emergence; inherently unknowable behaviour. Ironically this kind of innovation is desperately needed to take advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies, such as additive manufacturing, or distributed cloud based manufacturing. But marrying these technologies within a complex fixed organisational structure and process is very difficult. Building on the success of the Design the Future project "In Search of Design Genes" this work looks to nature for inspiration, for an unconstrained approach to engineering design. Introducing the concept of 'Biohaviour' we follow the behaviour of natural growth rather than biomimicry. The creation of an elemental set of rules based on energy and equilibrium, could allow variation to naturally arise in design. In nature, the rules are applied blindly with no fixed final form. That final form only arising as a consequence of its environment. Trees and bamboo are wonderful examples of this. Our hypothesis is that by reimagining design as a series of elemental rules and growth mechanisms that react to environment and stimuli, the design of complex systems will be simplified, and emergence could be used as a tool for innovation beyond conventional paradigms. We see four major challenges: * Obtaining growth rules for component seeds to allow components to emerge from the activity * Defining stimuli that will make the component seeds grow and establishing if that growth can be controlled via the stimuli. * Developing fast, scalable, event triggered systems to enable real time creation of complex designs. * Capturing the emergent behaviour into a working set of parameters which can interact with existing design and manufacturing systems - i.e. is there a set of parameters which will define a CAD model? In this project we will investigate theoretical aspects of this approach, and the practical implications of using these elementary rules in engineering design. We will develop novel computational methods for fast, scalable, event triggered systems to represent component seeds' growth behaviour, which will create a design depending on the environment around it. The seeds will grow to form a more complete component or system which can be envisioned in a CAD system. The seeds and shoots will have the ability to spawn others as the system develops in response to the environment. For example, forming a branch, or root, or in an engineering context a stiffener or hole. The result should be a set of rules encapsulated in a prototype Cloud service, that will automatically create a component from a simple seed definition. Depending on its surroundings, it will grow large or small, taking form, shape & colour according to need. One seed should be capable of producing a variety of solutions, generating innovation naturally. By tweaking the rules and behaviours we expect to allow some emergent behaviour to occur. This feeds back to the aim of this study - to establish if these elementary rules can be put to effective use in design - and to create the Blind Watchmaker.

The fundamental goal of this proposal is to Re-Imagine Design Engineering so that new ideas and concepts are generated rapidly, and where both the product and its associated manufacturing system (including its supply chain and people) are designed concurrently and fully tailored to each other. By doing this the >70% of lifecycle and supply chain costs that are "locked in" at the concept design stage can be understood, minimised and verified. This programme will target the transformation of Design Engineering via Interoperable Cyber-Physical-Social (CPS) Services in which: (i) engineering competences and multiscale physics are integrated by innovative digital capabilities, (ii) advanced analytics support capture of knowledge, enhance resilience and predict compliance by interoperable 'smart testing' and fully simulated lifecycle analyses to validate model-centric designs, (iii) novel business/supply chain models provide a transparent value stream from digital design through to manufacturing and pathways to ensure the UK develops the next generation of digital engineering talent. Our vision of the future where manufacturing systems are self-organising, self-aware and distributed, brings a radically different manufacturing industry than exists today. This leads naturally to identifying four major research challenges to this programme: 1. Interoperability - CPS Design Theory: How can we generate ideas and concepts rapidly such that artefacts are designed concurrently with manufacturing systems to create resilient extended enterprises with open communication throughout the whole system? 2. The Cyber World - CPS Modelling Design & Manufacture: How can we represent concepts virtually such that key design characteristics driving intended behaviour are understood, coded and realised via robust, intelligently manufactured product variants? 3. The Physical World - CPS Concept to Reality: What verification and validation concepts are needed to find the shortest and most beneficial pathway to physical realisation aided by a cyber-physical-socio manufacturing ecosystem? 4. The Socio World - CPS The Extended Manufacturing Enterprise: How can we translate and exploit concepts in new organisational structures within a cyber-physical-socio ecosystem to accelerate evolution of design solutions across extended enterprises? The four technical challenges are integrated and pose interdependent challenges. They form the four threads which are to be woven together in this programme. A range of approaches for modelling, evaluation and prediction are needed for the whole programme, and dealing with such diverse system entities from simulation models to individual human and business organisations necessitates a diversity of technical approaches. The concept of 'cyber-genes' and 'cyber-seeds' that can be used in an evolutionary approach form the core thread to provide a new CPS design theory but requires significant interlinkage with the other aspects. For example, CAD models in the cyber world are sufficient for some products, but in general systems are multi-functional and multi-disciplinary and will require a range of modelling methods to provide the necessary design evaluation data, such as with whole life costing. Similarly, although possible to communicate with manufacturing (e.g. CNC machines), feedback of intelligent data directly into a live design is not yet done, and new methods are needed in both design systems and the organisation to allow this capability. Overlaying evolutionary algorithms to these will necessarily require all elements to be adapted and changed, as both the system and underlying methods evolve. Therefore, these nature analogous processes and a range of alternative approaches (e.g. fractals, agent-based systems, response surface methodologies etc.) will be explored.