ABSTRACT
Mechanical engineering design is a means of formulating a specific plan for the satisfaction of human needs. Sometimes, these needs may affect a large population, and on other occasions, it may be too specific that it may go unnoticed. The design need may be well defined or vaguely defined. If it is a well-defined problem, the solution process may take a somewhat defined route. On the other hand, if the need is nebulous and not well conditioned, the first process in the design will be to devote a considerable amount of time to state the problem clearly so that a solution can be attempted. Irrespective of whether the need is well defined or ill-defined, there are an endless number of possible solutions. Thus, the design process may lead to an "open-ended" solution. Almost everyone is involved with the conceptual design one way or the other. In addition to those who are directly involved in the design process, the people who benefit by the design are also part of the team. For example, let us take the design of a community water tank that supplies daily water needs to the community. As expected, in addition to the design engineers who are directly involved, the community also becomes the part of the design needs. The residents in the community may have an mean age of 35 years and their needs for running water may be different from a community whose mean age is 60 years, for a community with a younger age group may require a different amount of water during summer when the children are at home during other periods in a year. The design of the water tower should be good enough for a certain period of time; this means that the community which had a
mean age of 35 years will become a population of older people. Thus, the needs of the design are related to time, money, requirements of end users, location, and so forth. It can thus be seen that there are really a rather large group of interrelated complex factors involved in arriving at one of the solutions to the design of a community water tank.
