A parametric study of joint performance in sheet metal assembly

In sheet metal assembly, joints are designed to facilitate welding the parts and to form various shapes and dimensions of sheet metal products. The most commonly used joints are lap joints, butt joints and butt-lap joints. Different joint configurations have different performance characteristics. One of the performance criteria is the level of dimensional variation in the assembly. This paper presents a parametric study of the dimensional variation characteristics of the three basic joints. An offset finite-element-model-based variation simulation methodology is used in the parametric study in order to take into consideration possible part deformation. This parametric study helps determine the circumstances under which part variation or tooling variation will contribute more variation to assembly variation. These results provide improved understanding of sheet metal assembly processes and provide data for robust product/process design. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.