Proposal of Criteria Characterizing Assembly Operations of Flexible Beam Parts for Virtual Reality Applications
Fast simulation of Assembly/Disassembly (A/D) operations is important to improve quickly the performance and quality of products. However, it is difficult to model accurately the A/D operations of products containing flexible parts given their complex mechanical behavior. To evaluate the A/D of flexible parts in order to provide better responses in terms of design, maintenance, ergonomics, a user needs criteria characterizing A/D operations. The aim of this work is to propose some of these criteria based on geometric and physical parameters. The realistic values of these parameters are coupled to an adequate behavior model of flexible parts and can be used in virtual A/D simulations. So, as an issue of current A/D approach problems, the requirements for integration of the Interactive Mechanical Model (IMM) into a virtual A/D system are discussed. An example of flexible beam IMM providing the realistic data is presented. The use of non-linear IMMs raises questions regarding the boundary conditions required to model a user’s action during a virtual A/D operation simulation. To this end, physical and numerical experiments have been performed using an optical tracking system. From these experiments, the necessary parameters can be extracted to characterize both real and virtual A/D operations.