Abstract: The methods and application of process oriented virtual assembly modeling, which integrate the assembly modeling and assembly simulation in virtual environment are presented. Process oriented virtual assembly modeling not only fulfils the assembly relationship modeling, but also realizes the creation and simulation of the assembly process, thus, assembly modeling can be promoted from result oriented modeling to process oriented modeling in virtual environment. While the designer performs assembly modeling operation in direct 3D interaction, the assem-bly relationship recognition is devised to capture the assembly design intention automatically, the constrained movement of the assembling part is used to obtain the assembling part’s assembly path and final position in assembly, and the reuse of virtual as-sembly modeling process information is also adopted to support the virtual assembly planning. The methods are implemented in the development of VIRDAS (Virtual reality design and assembly system). The experiment shows the methods can promote the quality and efficiency of virtual assembly modeling rapidly.

Key words: Assembly modeling, Assembly process reuse, Assembly relationship recognition, Virtual assembly, Virtual design