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One important perspective in aeronautics is to produce large, thick or/and complex structural composite parts. The forming stage presents an important role during the whole manufacturing process, especially for LCM processes (Liquid Composites Moulding) or CFRTP (Continuous Fibre Reinforcements and Thermoplastic resin). Numerical simulations corresponding to multi-layered composite forming allow the prediction for a successful process to produce the thick parts, and importantly, the positions of the fibres after forming to be known. This paper details a set of simulation examples carried out by using a semi-discrete shell finite element made up of unit woven cells. The internal virtual work is applied on all woven cells of the element taking into account tensions, in-plane shear and bending effects. As one key problem, the contact behaviours of tool/ply and ply/ply are described in the numerical model. The simulation results not only improve our understanding of the multi-layered composite forming process but also point out the importance of the fibre orientation and inter-ply friction during formability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemming is a forming operation used in the automotive industry to join inner and outer components during the assembly of closures. These are typically opening parts of the body-in-white with additional requirements to their visual appearance. A suitable production concept of hemming operation which satisfies quality, capacity and cost requirements is determined during hemming planning activities. A digital tool to facilitate these activities and minimize the amount of trial and error iterations in try-out phase is presented in this paper. This tool can be used to define process plan, active tool surfaces and suitable process parameters for both die hemming and roll hemming operations. In case of early feasibility studies, when the die layout of the drawing operation is still not available, 3D part geometry is used directly to develop the concept of hemming process. Advanced validation studies, aimed at process optimization and controlling defects associated with hemming, can be based on complete simulation of all forming operations. Validation and analysis of developed concepts of hemming operation is done using the standard AutoForm-Incremental solver. Submesh strategy and special algorithm for contact description between inner and outer parts were implemented to ensure that accurate simulation results can be obtained within reasonable calculation time. Performance of the new software tool for hemming planning and accuracy of simulation results are demonstrated using several simple benchmarks and a real industrial part. It is shown that the new software tool can help to secure the efficient production launch by providing adequate support in try-out phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents CIMLIB with its two main characteristics: an Object Oriented Program and a fully parallel code. CIMLIB aims at providing a set of components that can be organized to build numerical simulation of a certain process. We describe two components: one treats the complex task of parallel remeshing, the other puts the focus on the Finite Element modeling. In a second part, we present some parallel performances and an example of a very large simulation (over a mesh of 25 millions nodes) that begins with the mesh generation and ends up writing results files, all done using 88 processors. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric incremental sheet forming (AISF) is a relatively new manufacturing process for the production of low volumes of sheet metal parts. Forming is accomplished by the CNC controlled movements of a simple ball-headed tool that follows a 3D trajectory to gradually shape a sheet metal blank. The local plastic deformation under the tool leads to a number of challenges for the Finite Element Modeling. Previous work indicates that implicit finite element methods are at present not efficient enough to allow for the simulation of AISF for industrially relevant parts, mostly due to the fact that the moving contact requires a very small time step. Explicit Finite Element methods can be speeded up by means of mass or load scaling to enable the simulation of large scale sheet metal forming problems, even for AISF. However, it is well known that the methods used to speed up the FE calculations can entail poor results when dynamic effects start to dominate the solution. Typically, the ratio of kinetic to internal energy is used as an assessment of the influence of dynamical effects. It has already been shown in the past that this global criterion can easily be violated locally for a patch of elements of the finite element mesh. This is particularly important for AISF with its highly localised loading and complex tool kinematics. The present paper details an investigation of dynamical effects in explicit Finite Element analysis of AISF. The interplay of mass or time scaling scheme and the smoothness of the tool trajectory is analysed with respect to the resulting errors. Models for tool path generation will be presented allowing for a generation of tool trajectories with predefined maximum speed and acceleration. Based on this, a strategy for error control is proposed which helps reduce the time for setting up reliable explicit finite element models for AISF. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for reduction of weight is an important issue in sheet metal forming industry. The hydroforming process has become an effective manufacturing process, as it can be adapted for the manufacturing of complex structural components with high structural stiffness. The process parameters and material properties are important factors that influence the quality of final product. In this paper, an optimized window of process parameters is obtained for successful sheet hydroforming of Oil tank. The simulation of hydroforming process is performed by using a Finite Element Method based Commercial code. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly describes a rotation-free three-node triangular shell elements enhanced formulation and some industrial processes applications where the robustness and accuracy of the element behaviour have been validated. The enhanced formulation is an extension of the rotation free lamina elements (BST, EBST), used for the analysis of smooth surfaces, to the general study of complex branched surfaces behaviour (profiles). © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shear deformation and the evolution of the fibre volume fraction of carbon braided reinforcement are studied during the performing step of the RTM process. The determination of these quantities is necessary for their influence on the permeability component for the simulation of the resin injection step. During the performing the complex preform is studied at several scale with an analytical model based on fishnet approach. Numerical results in terms of shear angle, position of the reinforcement, fibre volume fraction, are compared to quantities extract from tomographies realized on composite piece after the resin injection. The model can optimize specific parameters of the braid reinforcement used for this application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compression molding has become a viable manufacturing process for medium to high volume production of aspherical glass lenses. The lack of fundamental understanding of the process and other technical issues ranging from thermal shrinkage to mold coating wear and long molding cycles have made this process unsuitable for industrial applications. In this research, the various stages of the lens molding process have been modeled to understand the effect of different molding parameters to the final lens quality (geometry). 2-D axisymmetric simulations of the glass molding process have been performed using a commercial Finite Element Method (FEM) code. Glass has been modeled as a Newtonian fluid and temperature dependent viscosity and the heat transfer at the glass mold interface have also been taken into consideration. One of the main objectives of this research was to include the effect of viscoelasticity (time dependent response of glass to mechanical load), into the simulation model. A limited number of experiments were also performed and a comparison of the predicted results has been made with the experimental data. Although the predicted results seem to be in qualitative agreement with the experimental data, further research needs to be performed on viscoelasticity, structural relaxation (time dependent response of glass to change in temperature), and non-Newtonian behavior of glass at high stress levels, in order to make FEM a more effective tool for process analysis and optimization. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]