The application of engineering design principles to the development of software in computational mechanics

A problem in computational mechanics arose during the design of novel heat transfer equipment for solar energy applications. The need to predict heat transfer and flow characteristics of unusual fluid flows in arrays of helical tubes led to the development of special software to enable these predictions to be made. The paper demonstrates that important principles from engineering design were applied in the design of this software and concludes that both are manifestations of a generic design process, albeit with some differences in implementation.