Application of Rigid/Visco-Plastic Element Free Galerkin Method in Three-Dimensional Bulk Metal Forming Processes

Combining element free Galerkin method with rigid/visco-plastic flow theory, the paper establishes the three-dimensional rigid/visco-plastic element free Galerkin method, and introduces it to analyze three-dimensional bulk metal forming processes. The velocity field is approximated by MLS method. Employing the incomplete generalized variation principle, stiffness matrix equation and solution formulas are derived. And STL format discrete triangular patches are used to describe the mould cavity. An analysis program for simulating three-dimensional bulk metal forming processes is developed. The program is capable of simulating three-dimensional unsteady bulk metal forming processes with severe deformation and arbitrarily shaped dies. A numerical example is analyzed. Numerical results such as material flow patterns and distributions of the effective stress are obtained. The effectiveness and validity of the proposed method and techniques are demonstrated by comparing with results obtained by using commercial finite element software.