Virtual Evaluation of Machining Fixtures for Flexible Manufacturing Systems VEMF-FMS

Purpose and goal:

The project aims to assess the feasibility of establishing a virtual process-planning tool to support the design stage of fixturing and tooling and to address challenges in predicting the performance of machining fixtures and assemblies for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs) by evaluating existing technologies, analysing new approaches, and identifying opportunities to address the research gap in predicting the dynamic behaviour of fixture assemblies to anticipate the quality of the machined components.

Expected results and effects:

The project is expected to make fixture design operations faster and more successful, this will in turn enhance circularity in component production by reusing existing machine tools in flexible FMSs, thereby improving the economy and adaptivity of manufacturing and remanufacturing processes.

Optimising fixture design can make machining faster and more efficient, which reduces the consumption of machining resources such as cutting fluid, electric power and cutting tools, further contributing to sustainable machining operations. Approach and implementation: The project has three work packages (WPs):

WP1 will analyze transitioning to circular FMS and select a representative product and its corresponding FMS design and fixturing.

WP2 will model the selected fixturing system using Finite Element Method (FEM) to assess the accuracy of tools for simulating machining dynamics.

WP3 will develop machining models considering fixture contact nonlinearities, and study simplifications to predict vibration instability and form errors in virtual machining.