Surface variations are an unavoidable byproduct of any manufacturing process and may lead to deviating part performance and even elevated part rejection rates. Because traditional computer aided-design approaches are aimed towards production of idealized, nominal geometric shapes, the wide geometric and—statistical—variability typical for any manufacturing process remains unrepresented and is frequently ignored during design. Thus, the present work aims at a more realistic design approach and, therefore, develops a collection of computer-aided design strategies for accurate representation, statistical analysis and prospective estimation of surface deviations with validation examples on aeroengine turbine blades.
