Nonlinear Variation Analysis of Compliant Sheet Metal Assemblies Including Effect of Surface Continuity in Components

Abstract

Assembly processes are often complex and highly nonlinear. In sheet metal assemblies, the most important factor that makes the process nonlinear is the contact interaction between mating parts during the assembly process. This paper focuses on developing a methodology for nonlinear variation analysis of compliant sheet metal assemblies which also includes the effect of surface continuity of components. The proposed methodology integrates a nonlinear finite element analysis with an improved sensitivity-free probability analysis in order to predict the final assembly variation. The efficiency of the developed approach is evaluated by an experimental case study as well as Monte Carlo simulation.