Evaluation of Assembly Gap from 3D Laser Measurements via FEA Simulation

Abstract

Due to the compliance and geometrical defects of composite parts, gaps exist between assembly components after the preassembly. Assembly requirements impose to fill these gaps to eliminate any unexpected internal stresses. Although it is identified as a problematic and expensive nonadded value stage, a gap measurement is still needed. This paper develops a numerical process for gap prediction before the assembly step. After the assembly components are scanned in a specified configuration, finite element meshes are created using the scanned data and the shape variations of each component caused by constraints and forces in different configurations are evaluated by finite element analysis. Assembly gaps are finally assessed by assembling the simulated preassembly shapes of all components. The feasibility of the proposed method is proved by an experiment.