Despite all these production practices, restrictions,
and controls, the original procedures involved in
machine design, analysis, and simulation remain
largely unchanged, as outlined by Younkin [2]. These
processes, upon which the basic performance of
machinery systems depend, are lacking in rigour
compared to subsequent, mandatory, manufacturing
regulations that were imposed to improve machining
standards, consistency, and volume production targets.
Essentially, machine tool design generally employs
pointwise, lumped analysis methods. This approach
does not recognize spatial dispersion, irrespective
of the machine dimensions, mass, inertia, andstiffness properties. For analytical convenience, all
these characteristics are assumed to be located at
a single, undefined point in the space–time continuum,
as in reference [3].
Clearly, this assumption becomes increasingly
difficult to sustain with expanding machine dimensionality,
slenderness ratios,