Tolerancing and Metrology of Virtually Engineered Components

机械部件和系统的虚拟工程已成为跨所有学科的现代生产的关键使能技术，不能再仅仅被视为一种辅助活动。虚拟模型本身必须被制造：在整个产品生命周期中进行设计、分析、检查、交换、组装和维护--虚拟地使用软件。这一建议的前提是，可互换虚拟部件的公差和计量对虚拟工程的未来至关重要，就像机械部件的互换性对现代大规模生产和制造企业的出现至关重要一样。这个项目的目标是为实体建模创造新的基础，明确地认识到工程数据的固有不准确性和几何算法的有限分辨率。发展的理论将为虚拟机械模型的公差和计量提供正式基础，并得到算法的系统开发和质量保证实践的标准化的支持。这项研究的成功成果将为工程中几何信息的建模和表示提供更好的理论基础。它还将支持几何建模和计算机辅助设计的本科生和研究生教学的修订，并最终可能导致创建一个新的学科。

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.