Towards Real-Time Physics-Based Variation Simulation of Assembly Systems with Compliant Sheet-Metal Parts Based on Reduced-Order Models

Variation Simulation (VS) allows early validation and certification of the assembly process before parts are built. State-of-the-art VS models of assembly systems with compliant sheet-metal parts are based on Finite Element Method (FEM) integrated with statistical approaches (i.e., Monte Carlo simulation). A critical technical barrier is the intense computational cost. This paper proposes a novel real-time physics-based VS model of assembly systems with compliant sheet-metal parts based on Reduced-Order Model (ROM). Compared to the literature on the topic, this study reports the first application of a ROM, developed for VS by using both intrusive and non-intrusive techniques. The capability of the proposed method is illustrated in a case study concerning the assembly process of the vertical stabiliser for commercial aircrafts. Results have shown that the accuracy of ROM (based on proper orthogonal decomposition) depends on the sampling strategy as well as on the number of reduced modes. Whilst a large CPU time reduction by several orders of magnitude is achievable by non-intrusive techniques (based on radial basis functions for interpolation), intrusive models provide more accurate results compared to the full-order models.