Modeling and identification of clamping contact stiffness

The dynamics of thin-walled parts are highly affected by the clamping conditions. Clamping stiffness is a function of c lamping force and surface roughness profiles of the clamp and part. Since the surface profiles cannot be altered, estimating clamping stiffness as a function of the clamping force is essential to simulate vibrations of the machined thin-walled parts. This paper presents the modeling of clamping stiffness as a function of the applied clamping force and material properties. Surface profile parameters are estimated from the identified contact stiffnesses evaluated using the Finite Element (FE) model. The contact stiffnesses are either predicted directly from the proposed mechanics model of the part or estimated from the Fractal surface parameters. It is shown that an average clamping stiffness can be predicted from the Fractal surface parameters, or directly and more accurately from the static model of the clamped part.