The effects of local variations in mechanical behaviour – Numerical investigation of a ductile iron component

Abstract

The effects of incorporating local mechanical behaviour into a structural analysis of a cast ductile iron component are investigated. A recently presented simulation strategy, the closed chain of simulations for cast components, is applied to incorporate local behaviour predicted by a casting process simulation into a Finite Element Method (FEM) structural analysis, and the effects of the strategy on predicted component behaviour and simulation time are evaluated. The results are compared to using a homogeneous material description. A material reduction method is investigated, and the effects of material reduction and number of linearization points are evaluated.The results show that local mechanical behaviour may significantly affect the predicted behaviour of the component, and a homogeneous material description fails to express the stress–strain distribution caused by the local variations in mechanical behaviour in the component. The material reduction method is able to accurately describe this effect while only slightly increasing the simulation time. It is proposed that local variations in mechanical behaviour are important to consider in structural analyses of the mechanical behaviour of ductile iron components.