An advanced meshless technique for large deformation analysis of metal forming

Abstract

Large deformation analysis is one of the major challenges in numerical modelling and simulation of metal forming. Although the finite element method (FEM) is a well-established method for modelling non-linear problems, it often encounters difficulties for large deformation analyses due to the mesh distortion issues. Because no mesh is used, the meshless methods show very good potential for large deformation analysis. In this paper, a local meshless formulation is developed for large deformation analysis. The Radial Basis Function (RBF) is employed to construct the meshless shape functions, and the spline function with high continuity is used as the weight function in the construction of the local weak form. The discrete equations for large deformation of solids are obtained using the local weak-forms, RBF shape functions and the total Lagrangian approach, which refers all variables to the initial (undeformed) configuration. This formulation requires no explicit mesh in computation and therefore fully avoids mesh distortion difficulties in the large deformation analysis of metal forming. Several example problems are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed meshless technique. It has been found that the developed meshless technique provides a superior performance to the conventional FEM in dealing with large deformation problems in metal forming.

Keywords:

• Metal forming
• large deformation
• meshless method
• FEM

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Y T Gu

Dr YuanTong Gu is a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering Systems at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Before joined QUT, he worked at the University of Sydney (as ARC APD) and University of California. Although he is still an early career academic, YuanTong is already an important researcher in advanced numerical simulation for engineering. His current research interests include advanced numerical modelling for mechanical engineering, modified FEM and meshless techniques, and advanced multiscale techniques crossing macro/micro/nano dimensions for manufacture and material engineering. He has been project leader and chief investigator for two ARC Discovery projects and one Queensland government project.

P K D V Yarlagadda

Prof Prasad Yarlagadda is currently the Director of Smart Systems Research and Professor in the School of Engineering Systems, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane. He possesses over 30 years of experience in the area of materials, manufacturing and infomechatronics.