This technical paper presents a Ford Motor Company case study applying Design for Six Sigma to robust exhaust manifold design. It explains how parametric computational fluid dynamics models, designed experiments, transfer functions, Gaussian Stochastic Kriging, and Monte Carlo simulation can be integrated into product development.
The study addresses gas-flow distribution, thermal performance, dimensional variation, thermal cracking, and emissions-related requirements. It demonstrates how meta-modeling reduces computational demands, supports earlier design decisions, limits hardware verification iterations, and improves robustness to manufacturing variation.
Application Scope: Automotive product development, exhaust manifold and catalytic converter design, computational fluid dynamics, robust engineering, Design for Six Sigma, design of experiments, reliability analysis, and engineering optimization.
