A constraint-based approach for the simulation of flexible materials in industrial processes

Several industrial sectors are concerned with the design and manufacturing of flexible products. However traditional CAD and simulation systems cannot be used to study and simulate process that involve this kind of products. Our objective has been to develop a modelling and simulation environment which is able to deal with different classes of non-rigid materials, from flat to bulk, in a unified way. This has been done at two different levels: object modelling and interaction modelling. For object modelling, a particle-based model has been adopted where an object is described by a set of particles with their mass, radius and other physical properties. As for the interaction modelling, we define a unified approach to manage object interactions with the environment. To verify the potential of the prototype developed some application case studies have been selected: the automated folding of a cotton sleeve, the draping of a skirt over a human body and the opening and closure of a convertible car soft top