Geometric tolerance analysis with manufacturing signature and operating conditions

Many well-known approaches of the literature for tolerance analysis exist and the commercial CAT software packages were developed on the basis of those models. However, the models of the literature do not consider the signature due the manufacturing process and the operating conditions, such as the presence of gravity and friction, and so on. Moreover, the models for tolerance analysis of the literature are often mathematically hard to use especially for industrial applications. In this work, a geometric tolerance analysis has been carried out without using any models for tolerance analysis. Geometrical reasoning have been implemented by simulating two circular profiles due to the turning process and by geometrically assembling them. Two circular profiles have been assembled inside a hollow rectangular box by considering the gravity, the friction among the parts and the actual points of contact with and without using the manufacturing signature. Matlab® software has been used to implement the geometric tolerance analysis. The results have been compared with those obtained by using a literature model with and without considering the manufacturing signature. This work aims to be a first step towards the integration of the design and the manufacturing in a concurrent engineering approach.