You will frequently be called on to help with studies. Understanding the advantages and limitations covered in this chapter will enable you to make the most of the time and money available for this kind of work.

Engineering work which involves construction or experimentation with hardware or structures is almost always more expensive in time and money than paper investigations of the same problem. Once an engineering hardware project is begun, it is less flexible than paper analysis and study. More is committed at the outset. To stop short or change will usually make results obtained to that point very expensive.

For this reason it is customary on large development projects to begin with a study phase even though hardware work is essential later. The study is aimed at raising the level of confidence in the eventual success of a full-scale development. Because of its simple flexibility the study can cover a wide area quickly. It can eliminate poor ideas and identify one or several approaches which appear to have real potential. Alternatively, results can be negative, indicating that no further development investment should be made.

Studies are also used as the entire development phase in situations that preclude any significant hardware experimentation. Examples are buildings, dams, and other complex systems.

Proposals for doing development or other engineering work are principally prepared as studies. Studies can be used to fill in ancillary areas of large hardware projects where experimentation is thought unnecessary. The more expensive an overall project...