A three-level signature by graph for Reverse Engineering of mechanical assemblies

Abstract

Several approaches exist to provide Reverse Engineering solutions on mechanical parts. Mechanical assemblies and the expertise information retrieved at the same time with the model geometry are not really taken into account in the literature. Thus, the main challenge of this contribution is to propose a methodology to retrieve the Digital Mock-Up of a mechanical assembly from its meshed data (from digitalization). The output DMU consists of expertise information and parameterized CAD models. The methodology proposed relies on a signature by a three-level graph. It enables to provide an adequate level of details by identifying the corresponding functional surfaces in meshed data. The first-level graph is a connectivity graph; the intermediate level is the same as the first with the geometric type of face added to each node (plane, cylinder and sphere) and the deepest level corresponds to a precedence graph. This one provides information such as functional surfaces and position between them (perpendicularity, coaxiality etc.). The solutions developed and the results are presented in this paper. The methodology is illustrated thanks to an industrial use-case with a scan of an assembly with a connecting rod and a piston. The conclusion and perspectives will complete this paper.