Stream of Variation Modeling and Analysis for Compliant Composite Part Assembly—Part I: Single-Station Processes

Abstract

Composite structures are widely used due to their superior properties, such as low density, high strength, and high stiffness-to-weight ratio (Mallick, 1993, Fiber-Reinforced Composites: Materials, Manufacturing, and Design, Marcel Dekker, New York). However, the lack of methodologies for variation modeling and analysis of composite part assembly has imposed a significant constraint on developing dimensional control for composite assembly processes. This paper develops a modeling method to predict assembly deviation for compliant composite parts in a single-station assembly process. The approach is discussed in two steps: considering the part manufacturing error (PME) only and considering both the PME and the fixture position error (FPE). Finite element method (FEM) and homogenous coordinate transformation are used to reveal the impact of the PME and the FPE. The validity of the method is verified with two case studies on assembly deviation prediction of two composite laminated plates considering the PME only and both the PME and the FPE, respectively. The proposed method provides the basis for assembly deviation prediction in the multistation composite assembly.

The Method for Risk Evaluation in Assembly Process based on the Discrete-Time SIRS Epidemic Model and Information Entropy

“…Tooranloo and Ayatollah [22] proposed an innovative model for FMEA that is based on the intuitionistic fuzzy approach. There are significant literature referring to the variation propagation during the assembly process [23][24][25][26][27]. The dimensional variation will be introduced to each assembly process, and further influence the assembly quality [26].…”

Surrogate Model-Based Control Considering Uncertainties for Composite Fuselage Assembly

“…A method of influence coefficient was exploited to combine engineering structural mechanics with statistical methods to model the relationships between the incoming part deviations and the output assembly deviations in single-station [7] and multistation assembly processes [8]. A detailed literature review of modeling and variation analysis of compliant assembly of metal parts can be found in the papers [9,10]. It is a more challenging task to model the dimensional variation of compliant composite parts with anisotropic characteristics.…”

“…It is a more challenging task to model the dimensional variation of compliant composite parts with anisotropic characteristics. Zhang and Shi built a SoV model for compliant composite part assembly in single-station [9] and multistation processes [10]. In their model, part manufacturing errors, fixture position errors, and relocation induced errors were considered for the analysis of dimensional variation and its propagation in a multistage process.…”

“…However, this SoV modeling method cannot be directly used in the AOSC system of composite fuselage assembly because that the SoV model in Refs. [9] and [10] is based on engineering physical mechanics, and material property parameters such as equivalent stiffness matrix and compliance matrix about the composite parts are required. It is difficult to obtain an accurate estimation of those parameters, especially for large composite parts with complex structures.…”

“…It is difficult to obtain an accurate estimation of those parameters, especially for large composite parts with complex structures. Other than the SoV type of models [3][4][5][6]9,10], other types of models have been used to improve the quality control of assembly process, such as robust pattern-matching technique for variation source identification [11], adaptive product, process and tooling design strategy for optimal dimensional quality [12], modeling of operator effects on process quality [13], and variation analysis using component geometric covariance [14]. However, these models are mainly focused on variation analysis and modeling instead of shape control; thus they cannot be used directly in the composite fuselage shape control problem.…”