Using a virtual environment for data comparison of finite element simulations

Time to market is an important factor in product development and a primary concern in the overall economic performance of a product. Simultaneous Engineering attempts to shorten product development by making processing operations parallel instead of sequential. This paper describes how the planning and optimisation of manufacturing processes can be performed in conjunction with product design using Virtual Process Engineering. Finite Element simulations are carried out and analysed in a Virtual Environment in order to find optimum manufacturing process parameters. A data comparison technique has been developed whereby a differenced data set is created from two different simulations by highlighting disparities. The simulations use unstructured grids with tetrahedron elements, and their meshes differ due to adaptive re-meshing. Thus, the creation of differenced data sets requires interpolation. An estimation of the error associated with the interpolation is given. This data comparison technique helps to assess the effect of varying input parameters, such as tool geometry, on final product features. production planning difficult.