Tri-Dexel Based Cutter-Workpiece Engagement Determination For Robotic Machining Simulator

Abstract

In the spirit of digital twins, computer simulations is a crucial aspect for a technology. Within the frame of virtual manufacturing, and more precisely robotic machining simulation, this article aims to present a simulator developed in C++ for test purposes. It computes the machining forces and the update of the workpiece for 5-axis operations. The proposed method is based on the modelling of workpiece using multi-dexels with scalable resolution and a disk modelled tool with triangle-mesh surfaces. Chip thickness computation approaches are based on the interference between the dexel network with the surface swept by cutting edges either modelled as quadratic surfaces or planar swept surfaces coupled with a quadratic interpolation in the tool space, in the view of reducing computation time. Simulation results of both methods are compared with benchmark operations from the literature in terms of machining forces and with each other in terms of computation performances.