A Generalized Decomposition Procedure and Its Application to Engineering Design

This paper addresses the application of the decomposition theory of mathematical programming to the engineering design process. While decomposition theory does offer a vehicle for solving large mathematical programming problems arising in engineering design, it also provides a framework for modeling the design of engineering systems through the integration of component sybsystems. Based upon this discussion, shortcomings of the present decomposition procedures are related. A new generalized decomposition procedure is then introduced. A linear programming version of the generalized model is developed. Through the application of this model to an example, the solution properties of the model are displayed. Extension of the model to solve a large class of mathematical programming problems is discussed.