B-rep Based Parallel Machining Simulation

Boundary - representation (B- rep) solid modeller based machining simulations are employed in industry to avoid potential manufacturing failures and improve machining efficiency before machining begins. The B-rep solid modeller maintains the state of the in-process stock exactly. However, the application of B-rep solid modellers to machining simulations is hindered by the complexity growth that occurs for a large number of tool-paths. In this paper, it is shown that by dividing the tool-paths into neighbour groups and working under practical $2{1\over 2}{\bf D}$ machining assumptions, the number of neighbours to any tool-path is constant. Consequently, parallel processing effectively reduces wall clock running time for a large number of tool-paths.