Tolerancing and Metrology of Virtually Engineered Components

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Virtual engineering of mechanical components and systems has become the key enabling technology for modern production across all disciplines, and can no longer be viewed as a mere supporting activity. Virtual models themselves must be manufactured: designed, analyzed, inspected, exchanged, assembled, and maintained - virtually, in software - throughout the entire product life cycle. The premise of this proposal is that tolerancing and metrology of interchangeable virtual components are as important to the future of Virtual Engineering as interchangeability of mechanical components was critical for emergence of the modern mass production and manufacturing enterprise. The goals of this project are to create the new foundations for solid modeling that explicitly recognize the inherent inaccuracy of engineering data and limited resolution of geometric algorithms. The developed theory will provide formal foundations for tolerancing and metrology of virtual mechanical models, supported by systematic development of algorithms, and standardization of quality assurance practices. Successful outcomes of the proposed research will lead to improved theoretical foundations for modeling and representation of geometric information in engineering. It will also support revision of undergraduate and graduate teaching of geometric modeling and computer-aided design, and eventually may lead to creation of a new discipline.