以文化的形式来评估家具的价值——评《西方家具集成》

董玉库先生新著《西方家具集成—一部风格、品牌、设计的历史》今年一月付梓出版。这是一部大部头的西方家具史著作,厚达514页。这一部力作,其内容之丰富、观点之新颖、配图之广博、装帧之精美,实为我国家具出版物之先进。该书以建筑对家具的影响为线索,论述了西方古典家具的源流;以文化的形式分析了现代西方家具的品牌、设计的历史及其代表人物。它是一部资料翔实,论点新颖的西方家具史的学术著作。     

是家具,也是玩具——关于儿童纸板家具的设计思考

儿童纸板家具如何市场化是一个难题。本文通过对一些国外优秀儿童纸板家具作品进行分析,并总结目前市场上国内儿童纸板家具产品的问题,提出解决问题的关键是遵循＂是家具,也是玩具＂的设计思路,即在设计中实现拆装结构和益智功能,建立与传统的儿童木制家具的差异化设计,用以充分体现儿童纸板家具的优势。     

现代家具设计中的“新中式”与“新东方”

创新一直是中国传统家具与时俱进的主题,也是在发展中继承中国文化的重要手段。新中式与新东方作为中国文化延续的符号,从不同角度诠释着中国设计与中国艺术的魅力。以中国文化为根进行设计的＂新中式＂与平衡中西文化的＂新东方＂有着不同的思想内涵。     

色彩在商业空间中的运用研究

分析了色彩的特征和属性,从商业空间、销售物品及购物行为引导的角度分析了色彩在商业空间的物理效能、视觉效能和心理效能。从消费的角度提出了色彩在商业空间的合理运用的观点和思路,为设计者在进行商业空间室内设计时提供色彩指导。     

茶室家具生产企业类型调研

本文通过实地调研的方法针对国内茶室家具生产企业类型进行数据和信息搜集,得出目前市场上约69%的茶室家具产自作坊式家具企业,只有29%的茶室家具来自品牌企业,仅2%的茶室家具出自设计工作室,较具原创性和设计感。由此反映出茶室家具的设计与制作尚有较大发展空间,并表现出人们开始重视设计创意和文化内涵的趋势。     

Geometrically nonlinear composite beam structures: design sensitivity analysis

The purpose of this paper is to develop a finite element model for optimal design of composite laminated thin-walled beam structures, with geometrically nonlinear behavior, including post-critical behavior. A continuation paper will be presented with design optimization applications of this model. The structural deformation is described by an updated Lagrangean formulation. The structural response is determined by a displacement controlled continuation method. A two-node Hermitean beam element is used. The beams are made from an assembly of flat-layered laminated composite panels. Beam cross-section mass and stiffness property matrices are presented.

Design sensitivities are imbedded into the finite element modeling and assembled in order to perform the structural design sensitivity analysis. The adjoint structure method is used. The lamina orientation and the laminate thickness are selected as the design variables. Displacement, failure index, critical load and natural frequency are considered as performance measures. The critical load constraint calculated as the limit point of the nonlinear response is also considered, but a new method is proposed, replacing it by a displacement constraint.     

Reliability based design optimization using response surfaces in application to multidisciplinary systems

Traditionally, reliability based design optimization (RBDO) is formulated as a nested optimization problem. For these problems the objective is to minimize a cost function while satisfying the reliability constraints. The reliability constraints are usually formulated as constraints on the probability of failure corresponding to each of the failure modes or a single constraint on the system probability of failure. The probability of failure is usually estimated by performing a reliability analysis. The difficulty in evaluating reliability constraints comes from the fact that modern reliability analysis methods are themselves formulated as an optimization problem. Solving such nested optimization problems is extremely expensive for large scale multidisciplinary systems which are likewise computationally intensive. In this research, a framework for performing reliability based multidisciplinary design optimization using approximations is developed. Response surface approximations (RSA) of the limit state functions are used to estimate the probability of failure. An outer loop is incorporated to ensure that the approximate RBDO converges to the actual most probable point of failure. The framework is compared with the exact RBDO procedure. In the proposed methodology, RSAs are employed to significantly reduce the computational expense associated with traditional RBDO. The proposed approach is implemented in application to multidisciplinary test problems, and the computational savings and benefits are discussed.     

Designing for maintenance: A game theoretic approach

Maintenance management is the effective and economical use of resources to keep equipment in, or restore it to, a serviceable condition. In this paper, maintenance considerations are introduced during product design using a game theoretic approach. Specifically, a product designer and a maintenance manager are modeled as two players in a Leader-Follower game, and strategies for designing product components are derived accordingly. To implement this approach, the compromise Decision Support Problem, with a deviation function adapted from linear physical programming, is used to model decisions mathematically. This approach is intended for distributed collaborative design in which modeling, computational or organizational factors hinder complete integration of all aspects of a design problem. Using this approach, the knowledge and expertise of each designer are fully utilized while keeping modeling and computational challenges at a tractable level. The approach is illustrated with a case example, namely, the design of a series of absorption chillers for an industrial complex.     

Engineering optimization using a real-parameter genetic-algorithm-based hybrid method

A hybrid optimization algorithm which combines the respective merits of the genetic algorithm and the simulated annealing algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm incorporates adaptive mechanisms designed to adjust the probabilities of the cross-over and mutation operators such that its hill-climbing ability towards the optimum solution is improved. The algorithm is used to optimize the weight of four planar or space truss structures and the results are compared with those obtained using other well-known optimization schemes. The evaluation trials investigate the performance of the algorithm in optimizing over discrete sizing variables only and over both discrete sizing variables and continuous configuration variables. The results show that the proposed algorithm consistently outperforms the other optimization methods in terms of its weight-saving capabilities. It is also shown that the global searching ability and convergence speed of the proposed algorithm are significantly improved by the inclusion of adaptive mechanisms to adjust the values of the genetic operators. Hence the hybrid algorithm provides an efficient and robust technique for solving engineering design optimization problems.     

DOMAIN APPROXIMATION AND DETERMINISTIC PROGRESSION IN GENETIC CROSSOVER

The fitness difference between two strings is usually neglected by most Genetic Algorithm crossover operators. The neglect of this useful information often results in the less efficient propagation of search trials toward fitness improved regions, and leads to a general increase in the number of function evaluations required to converge to a solution. An alternative crossover strategy is presented in this paper which considers this information, often significantly accelerating and enhancing the search process. The presented strategy involves components of solution domain approximation and the deterministic estimation of the “optimal” genetic composition for progeny. The implementation of this crossover scheme has empirically demonstrated its effectiveness in significantly reducing the required number of function evaluations, and improving solution quality compared with some conventional crossover strategies