About the numerical simulation of the sheet metal stamping process

Abstract

AbstractThe following is a summary of several years' research work devoted to the development of a sheet metal forming computer program. A few aspects of the membrane formulation are discussed, leading to the conclusion that instability problems cannot be avoided. Then a complete formulation including bending, based on the large‐displacement equations of plates, is developed. An expression for the tangent matrix is obtained. Elastic behaviour, yield equation and the plastic flow rule are reformulated in a suitable basis. A reliable method for stress projection on the yield surface, based on a ‘dichotomic’ algorithm, is presented. Many other features of the simulation problem are discussed: contact and frictional effects, thickness updating and geometry definitions. Finally, three illustrative test cases are presented.