Analyses for Durability and System Design Lifetime: A Multidisciplinary Approach

by Joseph H. Saleh

Overview

An issue in engineering design is a system's design lifetime. This book provides a systemic qualitative and quantitative approach to these problems addressing, first, the technicality of durability, second, the marginal cost of durability, and, third, the durability choice problem for complex systems with network externalities (competition and market uncertainty) and obsolescence (technology evolution). Also addressed is the increasing tension between the design lifetimes of complex systems and the shortening time scales associated with the obsolescence of the technology. The book ends with a discussion of flexibility in system design.


Dr. Joseph H. Saleh is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and served as the Executive Director for the Ford-MIT Alliance. His research focuses on issues of design lifetime and how to embed flexibility in the design of complex engineering systems in general and in aerospace system in particular. Dr. Saleh is the author or co-author of 50 technical publications and the recipient of numerous awards for his teaching and research contributions. He served as a technical consultant to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and has collaborated on research projects with various aerospace companies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521867894
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/10/2007
Series:	Cambridge Aerospace Series , #23
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	7.17(w) x 10.24(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Dr Joseph H. Saleh is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and served as the Executive Director of the Ford-MIT Alliance. His research focuses on issues of design lifetime, and how to embed flexibility in the design of complex engineering systems in general, and aerospace systems in particular. Dr Saleh is the author or co-author of fifty technical publications, and the recipient of numerous awards for his teaching and research contributions. He served as a technical consultant to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I.B.M., and has collaborated on numerous research projects with American and European aerospace companies.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: on time; 2. To reduce or to extend a system design lifetime?; 3. A brief history of the economic thought on durability; 4. Analysis of marginal cost of durability and system cost per day; 5. Flawed metrics: system cost per day and cost per payload; 6. Durability choice and optimal design lifetime for complex engineering systems; Epilogue; Appendix A; Appendix B.

Editorial Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'This book provides an excellent insight into approaches that can be used to understand better the key drivers in the marginal cost of durability. … I would recommend [it] as an informative, useful, and practical addition to the engineer's library and look forward to the works on uncertainty and flexibility to follow.' Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

From the Publisher