Non-Rigid Behavior Prediction Based on Styling Data for Evaluation of Perceived Quality

In the automotive industry it is of great importance to manage the impact of part and assembly variation as it affects aesthetical aspects of the final Perceived Quality, such as the appearance of flush, parallelism and gaps in split-lines. By using a CAT (Computer Aided Tolerancing) software simulating tolerances, in combination with a high-end visualization tool, evaluations are made to judge a predicted outcome of the final Perceived Quality. When a new styling concept needs to be evaluated the data used for analysis and visualization will be less mature and the fact that several vehicle components are non-rigid will further complicate the realization of non-nominal visualization. The deformation behavior of non-rigid components is dependent on several parameters such as part shape, position of reference points, flanges, reinforcements etc. Such information is most likely not available when evaluating a new styling concept, represented only by a surface skin. This paper discusses the possibility to use this limited information, defined as styling data, as a basis when performing non-nominal visualization and evaluation of Perceived Quality based on deformable non-rigid components. The insufficient information is supplemented by collecting and comparing data from prior projects to enable non-rigid behavior prediction of components as such.