Rapid Finite Element Analysis of Bulk Metal Forming Process Based on Deformation Theory

 The one-step finite element method (FEM), based on plastic deformation theory, has been widely used to simulate sheet metal forming processes, but its application in bulk metal forming simulation has been seldom investigated, because of the complexity involved. In this paper, a bulk metal forming process is analyzed by using a rapid finite element simulation method based on deformation theory. The material is assumed to be rigid-plastic, strain hardening. The constitutive relationship between stress and total strain is adopted, whereas the incompressible condition is enforced by penalty function. The geometrical non-linearity in large plastic deformation is taken into consideration. Furthermore, the force boundary condition is treated by a simplified equivalent approach, considering the contact history. Based on constraint variational principle, the deformation finite element method is proposed. The one-step forward simulation of axisymmetric upsetting process is performed by this method. The results are compared with those obtained by the traditional incremental FEM to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

Rapid Finite Element Analysis of Bulk Metal Forming Process Based on Deformation Theory

The one-step finite element method (FEM), based on plastic deformation theory, has been widely used to simulate sheet metal forming processes, but its application in bulk metal forming simulation has been seldom investigated, because of the complexity involved. In this paper, a bulk metal forming process is analyzed by using a rapid finite element simulation method based on deformation theory. The material is assumed to be rigid-plastic, strain hardening. The constitutive relationship between stress and total strain is adopted, whereas the incompressible condition is enforced by penalty function. The geometrical non-linearity in large plastic deformation is taken into consideration. Furthermore, the force boundary condition is treated by a simplified equivalent approach, considering the contact history. Based on constraint variational principle, the deformation finite element method is proposed. The one-step forward simulation of axisymmetric upsetting process is performed by this method. The results are compared with those obtained by the traditional incremental FEM to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.