In the assembly process of auto-body, variations in the geometrical dimensions of sheet metal parts and fixtures are inevitable. These variations accumulate through the multi-station assembly process to form the dimensional variations of the final products. Compared with the assembly of rigid parts, the assembly process of the elastic parts is more complex because the variation accumulation patterns rely much on the variations of fixture, jointing methods and mechanical deformation. This paper aims at analyzing the variation transformation mechanism and accumulation characteristics for the assembly of sheet metal parts based on the analysis of dimensional coordination relations among parts and fixtures. Finite element method (FEM) and Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS) were used to analyze the effect of jointing contact on variation transformation, while a state equation was developed to describe the variation accumulation mechanism. The result of the analysis indicates that the main characteristics of elastic assembly jointing are the overlap jointing methods and elastic contacts action. The fact that the variation transform coefficients (VTC) are variable makes the assembly variation distribution Non-Gaussian even if the dimension variation of parts is Gaussian distribution. The analysis conclusions have potential value for more reasonable tolerance synthesis of elastic parts assembly.
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