Deforming CAD Models from Simulated and Measured Data for Tooling and As-Built Validation

Abstract

Four questions open this talk: will my product still work under operating conditions, will my tooling produce the specified shape and quality on the first shot, will my 3D product be the same after it is built, and can I optimise the machining time of my complex part. The answer offered is a way of deforming a CAD model – driven either by finite element results or by a scanned point cloud – that returns a usable solid or surface model with unchanged topology and comparable surface quality, keeping tangency and curvature continuity so the result can feed FEA or NC downstream. The use cases run from counter-deformed die castings and moulds, through stamping spring-back on body-in-white panels, to turbine blades measured at rest and predicted at speed, and adaptive machining of the blade heel.