Toward a unified framework for model calibration and optimisation in virtual engineering workflows

When designing a new product it is often advantageous to use virtual engineering as either a replacement or assistant to more traditional prototyping. Virtual engineering consists of two main stages: (i) development of the simulation model; (ii) use of the model in design optimisation. There is a vast literature on both of these stages in isolation but virtually no studies have considered them in combination. The model calibration and design optimisation processes both however, crucially, draw on the same resource budget for simulation evaluations. When evaluations are expensive, there may be advantages in treating the two stages as combined. This study lays out a joint framework by which such problems can be expressed through a unified mathematical notation. A previously published case study is reviewed within the context of this framework, and directions for further development are discussed.