Coupling material and mechanical design processes via computer model calibration
This approach addresses the challenge of traditionally separate engineering and material design processes, offering a method to align them with performance targets, though it appears incremental as it adapts existing calibration techniques.
The authors tackled the problem of integrating material and mechanical design processes by repurposing computer model calibration to use performance targets instead of observed data, enabling materials to be designed with specific engineering goals while quantifying uncertainty, as demonstrated in a wind turbine blade case study.
Computer model calibration typically operates by choosing parameter values in a computer model so that the model output faithfully predicts reality. By using performance targets in place of observed data, we show that calibration techniques can be repurposed to wed engineering and material design, two processes that are traditionally carried out separately. This allows materials to be designed with specific engineering targets in mind while quantifying the associated sources of uncertainty. We demonstrate our proposed approach by "calibrating" material design settings to performance targets for a wind turbine blade.