3D Tolerance Analysis with manufacturing signature and operating conditions

The present work shows a method to integrate the manufacturing signature and the operating conditions into a model for 3D tolerance analysis of rigid parts. The paper presents an easy way to manage the actual surfaces due to a manufacturing process and the operating conditions, such as gravity and friction, inside the variational model for a 3D tolerance analysis. The used 3D case study is deliberately simple in order to develop a conceptual demonstration. The obtained results have been compared with those due to a geometrical model that reproduces what happens during assembly. It has been considered as reference case. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.