  The great majority of engineered products are subject to thermo-mechanical
loads which vary with the product environment during the various phases of its
life-cycle (machining, assembly, intended service use...). Those load
variations may result in different values of the parts nominal dimensions,
which in turn generate corresponding variation of the effective clearance
(functional requirement) in the assembly. Usually, and according to the
contractual drawings, the parts are measured after the machining stage, whereas
the interesting measurement values are the ones taken in service for they allow
the prediction of clearance value under operating conditions. Unfortunately,
measurement in operating conditions may not be practical to obtain. Hence, the
main purpose of this research is to create, through computations and
simulations, links between the values of the loads, dimensions and functional
requirements during the successive phases of the life cycle of some given
product. [...]
