As an important interface between product development and production processes, tolerance analysis and tolerance synthesis need to be implemented throughout the entire product life cycle. A shorter product development time not only requires an efficient modelling process, but also simulation methods that consider the influence of manufacturing processes with higher accuracy. In this research work, a meta-model based tolerance simulation method is developed for sheet metal parts. Geometric variations of parts are simulated with and without measurement data. The limitations in simulating elastic plastic effects in the current tolerance simulation methods are overcome by integrating manufacturing process simulations. The proposed tolerance simulation method is validated through two use-case studies with both prototype parts and parts in series production considering mechanical and thermal joining processes. By comparing the simulation results with the actual measurement data, the meta-model based simulation is proven to have a higher prediction accuracy than the rigid and elastic tolerance simulation methods. Based on the simulation results, the sensitivity analysis is carried out to identify the contributions of part tolerances on the assembly deviation. Furthermore, a tolerance optimization method is developed, which helps to optimize the part tolerances while also maintaining the assembly quality. With the available data in different product realization phases, the simulation method developed in this research is applied in different tolerance analysis and synthesis tasks. The applicability of tolerance simulation, as well as the manufacturing process simulation in the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, is extended.    «

As an important interface between product development and production processes, tolerance analysis and tolerance synthesis need to be implemented throughout the entire product life cycle. A shorter product development time not only requires an efficient modelling process, but also simulation methods that consider the influence of manufacturing processes with higher accuracy. In this research work, a meta-model based tolerance simulation method is developed for sheet metal parts. Geometric variat...    »