TYPOLOGY OF MODELS AND SIMULATION METHODS FOR MACHINING OPERATIONS

Abstract

There exists a wide variation of models and simulation methods for cutting operations on metals and somewhat less on other materials. These models and simulation methods deal with different operations, and are developed for different purposes, based on different principles and use different techniques. Nearly all models and simulations are constructed with the use of model elements, often called partial models, for instance, for the work material or the cutting tool (including a partial model for the tool material and one for the tool geometry). Even the assumptions made in the development of a model are in fact partial models. For instance the assumption “the work material does not strain harden” is in fact a simple model of the mechanical behavior of the work material. Sometimes a model contains a whole chain of partial models of various orders thus a hierarchy of models can be discerned.

This paper offers an overview of models and simulation methods for cutting operations, classified according to a set of principles developed for this purpose. As far as possible, for each type of model an example is given of a model found in the scientific literature. This typology of models and simulation may make it easier to construct the house of models as proposed in the 1998 CIRP keynote paper [1], since the properties of the available models, the predicted quantities, the required input variables and thus the interfaces between several models can be defined more clearly. This effort to develop a unified terminology and the house of machining models is intended to lead to co-operative work among the various researchers working in the area of modelling of machining operations. The author therefore invites written comments to the address indicated above.

Keywords:

• Model
• Simulation
• Cutting