Title: Simulated dynamic finite-element experiments and automatic assembly synthesis for mechanical design automation

Authors: Iraklis Chatziparasidis; Dimitrios Giagopoulos; Nickolas S. Sapidis

Addresses: Research and Development Department, Kleemann Hellas SA, Kilkis Industrial Area, 61100, P.O. Box 25, Greece ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani 50132, Greece ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani 50132, Greece

Abstract: Engineering-to-order (ETO) companies encounter two major issues greatly affecting them: 1) often, customers request products that exceed a company's previous experience. In this case, these companies are usually proceeding with experiments, using full scale prototypes, to validate a new design; 2) significant time is required for the product to be designed and fully engineered. To present a framework addressing both these issues, we introduce: a) a method that uses finite-element (FE) models and simulated dynamic experiments to deduct new design rules, instead of performing experiments with full scale prototypes; b) a CAD system based on the automatic assembly synthesis model (AASM) that automatically synthesises the final CAD model. The present framework also contains a specific methodology for validating finite element models regarding accuracy for simulated dynamic analysis. Using this framework, a company's design rules can be enriched by simulated experiments, expanding this company's Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) system.

Keywords: finite element modelling; simulated dynamic experiments; design automation; automatic assembly synthesis; assembly features; assembly model.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2018.091654

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2018 Vol.11 No.1, pp.19 - 46

Received: 07 Mar 2017
Accepted: 16 Nov 2017
Published online: 10 May 2018 *

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