Three-dimensional simulation of forging using tetrahedral and hexahedral elements

In this paper, numerical characteristics of triangular and tetrahedral MINI-elements are investigated through their application to forging simulation. The theoretical background is taken into account with emphasis on the numerical uncertainty due to the stabilizer, which is adopted for computational efficiency. The effect of the stabilizer is investigated by solving an axisymmetric upsetting process under various different conditions. A backward extrusion process of a cube is simulated using traditional tetrahedral and hexahedral elements assisted by the reduced integration scheme and tetrahedral MINI-elements and the predicted results are compared to show their difference and similarity. A rotor pole cold forging process is also simulated by a forging simulator with both tetrahedral MINI-elements and hexahedral elements capabilities and the predictions are compared with experiments. Hexahedral element capability runs manually while tetrahedral MINI-elements capability runs automatically with the help of an intelligent remeshing technique. It is shown that the tetrahedral MINI-elements capability can give quite accurate solution if assisted by the intelligent remeshing technique even though the tetrahedral MINI-elements itself is not numerically clear.