Engineering design research : anno 2000

This paper presents a three-level taxonomical framework to systematize the research aspects and approaches of engineering design. As contextual categories of engineering design research the authors identify: (i) human assets, (ii) design knowledge, (iii) design philosophy, (iv) design theory, (v) design methodology, (vi) design technology, (vii) realm of artifacts, (viii) realm of processes, and (ix) design application. The categories are grouped into source, pipeline and sink types. In order to sort the various activity fields. The authors also identified research domains within each contextual category. In each domain they further decomposed design research to branches that they called operation trajectories. Actually the identified trajectories reflect the approaches and the actual treatment of the research issues. A concise review on the state-of-the-art of engineering design research is also presented based on the aforementioned scheme.