Finite element remeshing in metal forming using hexahedral elements

Abstract Many finite element programs currently utilised in the three-dimensional simulation of bulk metal forming processes make use exclusively of tetrahedral shaped elements because of the advantages of such elements in meshing and remeshing operations. This paper addresses the problem of utilising hexahedral elements and discusses the relative performance between structured meshes of hexahedral elements, with initially perfect aspect ratios, and unstructured meshes of hexahedral elements obtained from decomposition of tetrahedral elements. The presentation is oriented to remeshing operations and its application to the numerical simulation of metal forming processes, therefore some supporting techniques related to this issue such as: recovery techniques, mesh quality assessment and data transfer, are also included. A metal forming example obtained from the three-dimensional numerical simulation of a fullering operation, utilised to reduce the cross-section of a bar and increase its length, is included with the objective of illustrating some of the algorithms and supporting the overall presentation.

[1]  J. Zhu,et al.  An automated process for 3D hexahedral mesh regeneration in metal forming , 1999 .

[2]  Jaroslav Mackerle.  Finite element methods and material processing technology, an addendum (1994‐1996) , 1998 .

[3]  R. Collins.  Bandwidth reduction by automatic renumbering , 1973 .

[4]  Paulo A.F. Martins,et al.  FINITE ELEMENT REMESHING: A METAL FORMING APPROACH FOR QUADRILATERAL MESH GENERATION AND REFINEMENT , 1997 .

[5]  Arturo Cifuentes,et al.  A performance study of tetrahedral and hexahedral elements in 3-D finite element structural analysis , 1992 .

[6]  M. Becker,et al.  New and effective remeshing scheme for the simulation of metal forming processes , 2005, Engineering with Computers.

[7]  Dong-Yol Yang,et al.  A three‐dimensional finite element analysis of hot extrusion through square dies , 1997 .

[8]  Paulo A.F. Martins,et al.  Plarmsh3—a three-dimensional program for remeshing in metal forming , 1994 .

[9]  Jaroslav Mackerle,et al.  Finite element methods and material processing technology , 1994 .

[10]  Patrick M. Knupp,et al.  Matrix Norms & The Condition Number: A General Framework to Improve Mesh Quality Via Node-Movement , 1999, IMR.

[11]  Henry T. Y. Yang,et al.  Adaptive 2D finite element simulation of metal forming processes , 1989 .

[12]  J. Z. Zhu,et al.  The finite element method , 1977 .

[13]  Richard A. Miller,et al.  Amg: automated mesh generation for forming simulation , 1990 .

[14]  Richard H. Crawford,et al.  Mesh rezoning of 2D isoparametric elements by inversion , 1989 .

[15]  Jung-Ho Cheng,et al.  Automatic adaptive remeshing for finite element simulation of forming processes , 1988 .