Development of an Interactive Assistance System for Machine Tool Structure Design Considering of Sliding Joint Damping

This paper deals with the development of an interactive design assistance system for machine tool structures. This system supports design engineers determining the suitable machine prototype in the conceptual and fundamental stages in a short time. In this study, all of the machine components are approximated by a set of beam elements to reduce the Degrees Of Freedom (DOF). Thus, it is easy to model and analyze the static stiffness and dynamic behaviors of the machine prototypes, especially in terms of sliding joint damping. By comparing their static stiffness and dynamic behaviors, design engineers can select the proper machine prototype in a short time. A case study shows the process, including the proposal, modeling, analysis, and selection, to determine the suitable machine prototype. This helps the design engineers to make the machine tool structural design efficiently.