Modeling of thin sheet forming processes by combining solid-shell finite element with isotropic elastoviscoplastic model. Application to magnetic pulse forming processes

Sheet metal alloys are used in many industries to save material, reduce weight and improve the overall performance of products. For the last decades, many types of elements have been developed to resolve the locking problems encountered in the simulation of thin structures. Among these approaches, a family of assumed-strain solid-shell elements has proved to be very efficient and attractive in simulating thin 3D structures with various constitutive models. Furthermore, these elements are able to account for anisotropic behavior of thin structures since isotropic yield functions cannot capture the real physics of some forming processes. In this work, von Mises isotropic yield criterion with Johnson-cook hardening model are combined with a linear prismatic solid-shell element to simulate sheet metal forming processes. A new element assembly technique has been developed to permit the assembly of prismatic elements in a tetrahedral element-based software. This technique splits the prism into multiple tetrahedral elements in such a way that all the cross-terms are accounted for. Furthermore, a tetrahedral based partitioning code has been modified to account for the new prismatic element shape without changing the core structure of the code. More accurate results were obtained using low number of solid-shell elements compared to its counterpart tetrahedral element (MINI element). This reduction in the number of elements accelerated the simulation, especially in the coupled magnetic-structure simulation used for magnetic pulse forming process. The proposed element and criteria are implemented into FORGE (in-house code developed at CEMEF) for simulating magnetic pulse forming process.

A MATLAB-Based Symbolic Approach for the Quick Developing of Nonlinear Solid Mechanics Finite Elements

A symbolic mathematical approach for the rapid early phase developing of finite elements is proposed. The algebraic manipulator adopted is MATLAB® and the applicative context is the analysis of hyperelastic solids or structures under the hypothesis of finite deformation kinematics. The work has been finalized through the production, in an object-oriented programming style, of three MATLAB® classes implementing a truss element, a tetrahedral element and plane element. The approach proposed, starting from the mathematical formulation and finishing with the code implementation, is described and its effectiveness, in terms of minimization of the gap between the theoretical formulation and its actual implementation, is highlighted.

Performance Evaluation of ANCF Tetrahedral Elements in the Analysis of Liquid Sloshing

The performance of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) tetrahedral element in the analysis of liquid sloshing is evaluated in this paper using a total Lagrangian nonincremental solution procedure. In this verification study, the results obtained using the ANCF tetrahedral element are compared with the results of the ANCF solid element which has been previously subjected to numerical verification and experimental validation. The tetrahedral-element model, which allows for arbitrarily large displacements including rotations, can be systematically integrated with computational multibody system (MBS) algorithms that allow for developing complex sloshing/vehicle models. The new fluid formulation allows for systematically increasing the degree of continuity in order to obtain higher degree of smoothness at the element interface, eliminate dependent variables, and reduce the model dimensionality. The effect of the fluid/container interaction is examined using a penalty contact approach. Simple benchmark problems and complex railroad vehicle sloshing scenarios are used to examine the performance of the ANCF tetrahedral element in solving liquid sloshing problems. The simulation results show that, unlike the ANCF solid element, the ANCF tetrahedral element model exhibits nonsmoothness of the free surface. This difference is attributed to the gradient discontinuity at the tetrahedral-element interface, use of different meshing rules for the solid- and tetrahedral-elements, and the interaction between elements. It is shown that applying curvature-continuity conditions leads, in general, to higher degree of smoothness. Nonetheless, a higher degree of continuity does not improve the solution accuracy when using the ANCF tetrahedral elements.

Natural Spring Cell Substitutes of Simplex Finite Elements

Spring cell models are presented which derive from the natural description of simplex finite elements, that is in conformity with the geometry of the triangle in the plane and of the tetrahedron in space. Thereby, the spring cells are interpreted as part of the finite elements. The deduction of two spring cells as defective substitutes is demonstrated for the triangular element. One approximates the flexibility matrix of the element, the other approximates the stiffness matrix. The performance with respect to the finite element is analyzed, the issue of elastic anisotropy is discussed. In space, the spring cell substitute of the tetrahedral element is derived from the flexibility matrix, an inherent difference to the plane case is pointed out. Remarks on the implication of plasticity are added. The account gives a brief summary of recent work on the subject.