Comparison of Computer Extended Descriptive Geometry (CeDG) with CAD in the Modeling of Sheet Metal Patterns

Abstract

The emergence of computer-aided design (CAD) has propelled the evolution of the sheet metal engineering field. Sheet metal design software tools include parameters associated to the part’s forming process during the pattern drawing calculation. Current methods avoid the calculation of a first pattern drawing of the flattened part’s neutral surface, independent of the forming process, leading to several methodological limitations. The study evaluates the reliability of the Computer Extended Descriptive Geometry (CeDG) approach to surpass those limitations. Three study cases that cover a significative range of sheet metal systems are defined and the associated solid models and patterns’ drawings are computed through Geogebra-based CeDG and two selected CAD tools (Solid Edge 2020, LogiTRACE v14), with the aim of comparing their reliability and accuracy. Our results pointed to several methodological lacks in LogiTRACE and Solid Edge that prevented to solve properly several study cases. In opposition, the novel CeDG approach for the computer parametric modeling of 3D geometric systems overcame those limitations so that all models could be built and flattened with accuracy and without methodological limitations. As additional conclusion, the success of CeDG suggests the necessity to recover the relevance of descriptive geometry as a key core in graphic engineering.