Advantages and disadvantages of morphological methods in engineering

The morphological methods are successful analytical and practical tools for development and choice of new engineering solutions. They can be successfully used in the conceptual and preliminary design stages of the development of new systems, products and technologies. The article discusses the scope of application, classification, advantages and disadvantages of this approach. The design process consists of two stages - structural synthesis and parametric optimization. The morphological approach is used for the structural synthesis stage. Structural synthesis generates a significant number of variants. This stage is the most important tool for achieving the high characteristics of the systems being designed. The article discusses the ratios between parametric, structural and structural-parametric methods of synthesis. The possibility of computerizing the stage of structural synthesis on morphological approach is discussed