Stream surface strip element method for simulation of the three-dimensional deformations of plate and strip rolling

A new method—the stream surface strip element method (SSSEM)—for simulating the three-dimensional deformations of plate and strip rolling process is proposed. The rolling deformation zone is divided into a number of stream surface (curved surface) strip elements along metal flow traces, and the stream surface strip elements are mapped into the corresponding plane strip elements for analysis and computation. The longitudinal distributions of the lateral displacement and the altitudinal displacement of metal are constructed respectively to be a quartic curve and a quadratic curve, the transverse distributions of them are expressed as the third-power spline function, and the altitudinal distributions of them are fitted to be a quadratic curve. Based on the flow theory of plastic mechanics, the three-dimensional deformations and stresses of the deformation zone are analyzed and formulated. Compared with the streamline strip element method, the SSSEM considers the uneven distributions of stresses and deformations along altitudinal direction, and realizes an accurate three-dimensional analysis and computation. The simulation examples indicate that the method and the model of this paper are in accord with facts, and provide a new reliable engineering-computation method for the three-dimensional mechanics simulation of plate and strip rolling process.