University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2015 Development of a Design Tool for Biologically Inspired Fault Adaptive Design by Strategy Mapping Nicholas Steven Huisman University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Biomechanical Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Huisman, Nicholas Steven, "Development of a Design Tool for Biologically Inspired Fault Adaptive Design by Strategy Mapping" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 1363. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1363 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Development of a Design Tool for Biologically Inspired Fault Adaptive Design by Strategy Mapping A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering By Nicholas Huisman University of Arkansas Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 2013 December 2015 University of Arkansas This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. Dr. David Jensen Thesis Directory Dr. Darin Nutter Dr. Uche Wejinya Committee Member Committee Member Abstract A design tool for Biologically Inspired Fault Adaption that utilizes the concept of strategy mapping was developed and the development process and testing is presented in this paper. The concept of strategy mapping is derived primarily from the field of military theory and supposes that for any given specific problem, that there exists a specific solution for, a single strategy can be identified for that solution/problem combination. This strategy, when applied to the specific problem yields the specific solution. This specific solution is referred to as the “tactics” of the strategy. The strategy can also be directly applied to a different specific problem which yields a different specific solution to the different specific problem. This concept is developed and applied to Biologically Inspired Design and uses biological analogs as the tactics for whatever design problem is being addressed in nature. A library of over 180 biological analogs that exhibit fault adaptive behavior was developed and for each analog the corresponding strategy was identified and cataloged in a design tool. The design tool uses a series of binary questions relating to the design problem to guide designers to the strategy that would have been exhibited in nature for their design problem. The tool also provides one or more example analogs of that strategy being implemented in nature for use as a direct inspiration and to see the strategy in action. This design tool was then tested using 11 groups of design students randomly assigned a design tool for biologically Inspirited Design of which were AskNature, The Strategy Mapping Tool and a generic internet search engine. The results were then compared against each other and from this the design tool using Strategy Mapping showed several clear advantages over competing design tools. Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Biologically Inspired Design Tool by Strategy Mapping ........................................................... 2 Experimental Exploration of a Biologically Inspired Design Tool for Fault Adaption ........... 36 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 76 References ................................................................................................................................. 80 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 85 List of Published Papers Huisman, N., Jensen, D., "Biologically Inspired Design Tool by Strategy Mapping." American Society of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Mechanical Design (In Review) Huisman, N., Jensen, D., "Validation of a Biologically Inspired Design Tool by Strategy Mapping." American Society of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Mechanical Design (In Review) Introduction The goal of this research has been to develop a tool to assist in integrating Biologically Inspired Design into the area of Fault Adaption. The problem that has been typically encountered in Biological Inspired Design (BID) in general is the difference between the mechanisms and processes used by nature and by engineers. This difference causes problems in selecting and applying specific biological analogs to specific engineering problems because cellular action and neurological processes, among other things, have no direct analog in engineering. Research into this area has primarily been focused on attempting to better locate analogs that can be easily applied or attempting to abstract the concept so it is sufficiently general as to apply to the engineering problem trying to be solved. The concept of Strategy Mapping, as introduced in this work, attempts to bridge that gap by instead concentrating on the strategy behind an analog. This allows for a strategy to be defined that can be applied to nearly any design problem independent of the exact circumstances. This approach is applied specifically to fault adaptive design because fault adaptive design has almost been left untouched by Biologically Inspired Design researchers. This is likely due to the previously mentioned differences in mechanisms used in nature and engineering which makes a more traditional BID approach more difficult. This work is presented as a combination of publications because this work can easily be divided into several sections and it was determined that these sections would correspond to publications in major design journals. The first section will cover the development of the design tool including an in-depth review of the supporting literature and full introduction to the final design tool iteration. The second publication details how the design tool was tested. The test was performed as a comparison study which compares the Strategy Mapping Tool to AskNature and compared the results of student design groups using those methods. 1 Biologically Inspired Design Tool by Strategy Mapping ABSTRACT Fault adaptive design seeks to find the principles and properties that enable robustness and implement those into engineering products. In nature, this characteristic of adaptability is the fundamental trait that enables survival. In this work we explore two fields, fault adaption and bio-inspired design, and discuss a major issue in connecting them. Specifically, we present an ongoing effort to develop a design tool that will bridge the gap between these two fields. The design tool uses a method called Strategy Mapping to identify an overarching plan behind natural solutions for fault adaptive problems. The tool is organized as a tree that consists of paths and nodes that designers move between. At each node the designer is presented with a binary question indicating which direction to proceed within the tool. This tool presents abstract strategies of a specific problem solved in nature, in addition to examples of solutions utilizing those strategies. The abstract strategy allows designers to use natural solutions from biological analogs even though those particular solutions may be directly applicable to the current design. The designers can create a design that uses nature’s strategy instead of mimicking specific examples. This work supports a broader effort to identify ways that engineered systems can improve fault robustness inspired by natural analogs. INTRODUCTION Every natural organism and system displays some remarkable adaptive trait. The natural process of selection automatically filters poorly adaptive organisms. Since successful models of adaption 2 to environmental changes and uncertainties exist in nature it is important that engineers look to these and identify if anything can be learned to develop robust systems. The area of adaptive design research is focused on identifying the specific methods and properties which enable an engineered system to continue to provide functionality in the presence of external or internal faults [1,2]. There currently exists an issue in connecting fault adaptive design and bio-inspired design. That issue is the difficulty in applying natural solutions directly to engineering problems which stems from the difficulty in applying the mechanisms utilized in nature to engineering problems. The implementation of robustness and adaptability requires a more complicated approach than the use of an analog from bio-inspired design. This is compounded by many biological analogs using chemical processes that are not readily available to engineers. This paper will attempt to bridge these two areas with a tool that a designer can use throughout the design process. This tool is developed based on a novel approach to design by analogy. In most biologically inspired design methods and tools the objective is to identify natural functions and structures and implement those in engineered systems. In this research we explore how to relate the natural strategies of adaption to implement fault adaptive design. The key differences between this approach and the analog search methods are that the designer does