UnderstandingStatisticalToleranceAnalysisby

Sigmetrix
DefinitionofStatisticalToleranceAnalysis
Astatisticaltoleranceanalysisiswhenyoutakethevariationofasetofinputstocalculatetheexpected
variationofanoutputofinterest.Inmechanicalengineering,aproductdesigniscomposedofmultiple
features,eachwithtolerancevaluesthatcontrolthevariableaspectsofthosefeatures.Statistical
toleranceanalysisisusedtounderstandhowthesetolerancescontributethevariousperformance
characteristicsofthedesign.
1DToleranceStackup
Thesimplestformoftoleranceanalysisisthesingledirection,1DToleranceStackup.A1DTolerance
Stackupiscreatedbycreatingacrosssectionofamodelandaddingthetolerancevaluesforeach
featureinastraightline.Thevariationineachcontributestotheoveralloutput/outcome.

WorstCaseAnalysisvsRSS(RootSumSquared)StatisticalAnalysis
InaWorstCaseAnalysis,eachdimensionwillhaveaminimumandmaximumvaluethatrepresentsthe
rangeofacceptabilityforthatdimension.WorstCaseanswersthequestion,ifItakethemaximumrange
oneachinput,whatisthemaximumrangeforthemeasurementofinterestorstackup?Weare
thereforedealingwiththelimitsofacceptabilityandnotprobability.
RSS(RootSumSquared)StatisticalAnalysisdoesnotfocusontheextremevalues,butfocusesonthe
distributionofthevariationforeachdimension.Eachdimensionwillhaveauniquedistributionofvalues
basedonthemanufacturingprocess.Toolwear,operatordifferences,changesinmaterialand
environmentallcontributetovariationinthedimensionvalue.Eachdimensionhasitsowndistribution
curve.
Whenyoucombinetheprobabilitiesforeachdimension(eachseparatecurve)yougettheprobabilityfor

thetotalandthereforethedistributioncurveofthetotal.Statisticalanalysisanswersthequestion,given
thedistributionofvariationoneachdimensionwhatistheprobabilitythatmyperformancecharacteristic
willfallwithindefinedacceptablelimits.ThelimitationofRSSisthatitassumesallinputsarenormally
distributedandallperformancecharacteristicshavealinearrelationshipwiththedimension.These
assumptionsdonotaccountforthebreadthofconditionsthatexistintypicalscenariosfoundin
manufacturing.
SecondOrderToleranceAnalysis
Becausemanufacturingmethodsvaryfordifferenttypesofparts,thedistributionmomentsor
parameterschangeaswell.RSSonlyusesstandarddeviationanddoesnotincludethehighermoments
ofskewnessandkurtosisthatbettercharacterizetheeffectstoolwear,formagingandothertypical
manufacturingscenarios.SecondOrderToleranceAnalysisincorporatesalldistributionmoments:

SecondOrderToleranceAnalysisisalsoneededtodeterminewhatyouroutputisgoingtobewhenthe
assemblyfunctionisnotlinear.Intypicalmechanicalengineeringscenarioskinematicadjustmentsand
otherassemblybehaviorsresultinnonlinearassemblyfunctions.Secondordercalculationsaremuch
morecomplexsohandcalculationsarenotadvisablebutthecomputationaccuracyisgreatlyimproved
andbecomesviablewithinatoleranceanalysissoftwarepackage.

SummaryofStatisticalToleranceAnalysisforpracticaluseage
Thechoiceintoleranceanalysismethodisbasedonmanyfactors,butthecanbesummarizedas
Whichmethodbestmatchesthemanufacturingandinspectionprocessoftheassembly.Forsimplefit
problems,a1Dstackupmaybesufficient.RSSissufficientforthesmallnumberofscenarioswherethe
inputsarenormalandtheassemblyrelationshipsarelinear.Forallotherscenarios,SecondOrder
ToleranceAnalysisisrequiredtoaddresstherealworldofmanufacturing.

HowdoesSigmetrixSoftware&Trainingsolutionsenableengineers&designersto
calculatepreciseStatisticalToleranceAnalysis?
Oursystemsaredesignedtointegratewithintheprimary3Dcadenvironmentsinwhichmanufacturers
designpartsandassemblies.EnablingthemtoutilizeGeometricDimensions&Tolerancingreportingto
createefficientToleranceAnalysisandVariationsforviableproducts.Thuscreatinganearlymodeling
methodpriortoproductionandassemblyforincreasedROIcreatingtheneedforaworld
renownedGD&Tsoftware.Formoreinformationtherelationshipofqualityandprofitabilityin
manufacturingclickhere,orreadthroughourwhitepapersandcasestudiesthroughoutthewebsite.
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