DealingWith Uncertainty in Designand Configuration Problems

Designisanactivity thattranslateasetof requirementsin a feasibleproductby consideringconstraintscomingfrom physics, technologyavaibility and designerpreferences. Configurationis a specialcaseof designin whichtheproductcomponentpropertiesare alreadypredefined.In this paper , the designof a new concepts(or thevalidationof existingones)is consideredasaconfigurationproblem. In thefirst partof this paper , we presenta genericapproachfor conceptualdesign,theearliestphaseof design,combiningtheconstraintsatisfactionformalismandtheobject-orientedframework. In thesecondpart,we introduceanapproachto dealwith uncertainties mostly foundduringtheconceptualdesignphase.Theproposedapproachis very easyto implementandguaranteestheupperboundof thesolutionexistenceprobability. Thedesignercannow make hisor herdecisionsnotonly basedontheproductperformance, but alsoon therisk associatedto thatperformance.