Computational modeling: valuable tool or math exercise?

ABSTRACT Optimization techniques have been used in engineering design for decades maximizing a specific performance metric, ultimately cost of a product for a given performance. As a matter of fact most accepted theories of market efficiency for the past half century have focused on the single objective of maximizing the profit. The well known concept of Pareto Frontier has been used mainly to explain that at high risk corresponds a high reward and therefore any \u201cnon dominated\u201d solution is equivalent. More recently it has become widely accepted that a multi-objective approach is necessary for a more efficient decision making process about product development with sustainability in mind. However a number of numerical technologies commonly grouped under the term \u201cdesign optimization\u201d can be used not only for product design but also to improve the quality in the modeling cof complex phenomena. The design practice has therefore become an iterative process where decision making is performed on the basis of the compromise solutions quantitatively determined or estimated and the optimization methods are used for building the model, design a component or with high ambition face the product design at system level. Through the description of practical examples the use of optimization for model calibration, for component design and finally for product design will be illustrated