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Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach. Second Edition. G. Pahl and W Beitz. Ken Wallace, ed. Translated by Ken Wallace, Lucienne Blessing and Frank Bauert, 544 pp. Springer-Verlag, 1996. $49.50 paper.
This is a new edition of an English translation of a highly regarded German text on the process and methodology of design of mechanical systems. The treatment of the subject is broad, covering theoretical aspects such as methods for finding and evaluating solutions, as well as more practical design details. It is aimed at both the engineering designer in industry and the engineering student.
The first German edition of Konstruktionslehre was published in 1977. Professors Pahl and Beitz, in the best of the German tradition, combine relevant industry experience with years of developing the theoretical side of their field. Although this is called the second English edition, it is based on the updated and extended third German edition published in 1993. It is also the third translation of Pahl and Beitz prepared by Professor Ken Wallace of Cambridge University.
Pahl and Beitz divide the engineering design process into four main phases. The first four chapters establish the background for these phases, locating the design process in the industrial context, making the case for systematic design, and tracing the development of design methodology, primarily in Germany The technical requirements of product design are placed in a system context, and the functional and logical relations among energy material and signal (information) flow are covered, along with the general problem-solving process, the planning aspects...