Speeding up Statistical Tolerance Analysis to Real Time

• Main Authors: Peter Grohmann, Michael S. J. Walter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: computation time; statistical tolerance analysis; Monte Carlo simulation; sample size; statistical tolerance synthesis; tolerance engineering
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/4207

Statistical tolerance analysis based on Monte Carlo simulation can be applied to obtain a cost-optimized tolerance specification that satisfies both the cost and quality requirements associated with manufacturing. However, this process requires time-consuming computations. We found that an implementation that uses the graphics processing unit (GPU) for vector-chain-based statistical tolerance analysis scales better with increasing sample size than a similar implementation on the central processing unit (CPU). Furthermore, we identified a significant potential for reducing runtime by using array vectorization with NumPy, the proper selection of row- and column- major order, and the use of single precision floating-point numbers for the GPU implementation. In conclusion, we present open source statistical tolerance analysis and statistical tolerance synthesis approaches with Python that can be used to improve existing workflows to real time on regular desktop computers.