Method of Evaluating the Complexity of Geometries for Free-Form Surfaces

Abstract

In order to improve the ability to predict the manufacturability of the free-form surfaces, the complexity of geometries for free-form surfaces is defined and studied. The free-form surfaces are modeled, which is used to calculate the distribution feature values of the surfaces. According to the feature values, free-form surfaces are classified into several clusters based on the fuzzy clustering algorithm. Group patterns are established according to feature values of the samples in the clusters. Then, the method of fuzzy pattern recognition is used to evaluate the surface complexity. The surface samples in the same cluster have close geometry configuration, so they often have similar manufacturing processes. A case study shows that the method can quickly classify the surfaces, largely reflecting the complexity of the free-form surfaces, which can lay the foundation for manufacturability evaluation of the complex surfaces.