Defining the forming process is the first step in performing a forming simulation. For more information on configuring the forming process that will be simulated, see Setting Up the Model (Process Tab).
In addition to the Common Ribbon Elements, the ribbon in the Process tab contains tools that enable you to define process operations and settings. Selecting the Process ribbon also displays the Process Task Panel.
- Production Line
Choose the tool to open the Forming Process Task Panel to define the process operations that will occur on the production line.
The Process task panel provides three tabs with information about the project. The tabs provide general information, information about the press tip point and angle as defined in the project's global coordinate system, and information about the basic operations plan of the project.
The General tab of the Process task panel provides general information about the project such as the project name, saved text notes about the project, information about the press brake used, and some general settings.
The Tip tab of the Process task
panel provides the ability to view and modify tip parameters for the operations,
such as the base, tip point, and tip angles. Tip Point and
Tip Angles are defined in the Global Coordinate System.
The Operations tab of the Process task panel enables you to create your forming process by defining the operations and the tip angle of each operation.
Choose the Production Line tool from the
Process Ribbon Elements to open the Forming Process Task Panel to define the process operations that
will occur on the production line. Use this tab to create (
), delete (
), and reorder (by dragging) the
operations in the forming process. Define the category of operation that each
represents. You can further define each operation through the Operations Ribbon Elements.
Click the button on the Forming Process Task Panel or the button on the General Tab of the Process Task Panel to access this task panel and view or modify operation defaults such as Contact Stiffness, Max Velocity, Adaptive Size Thresholds, Time Steps, etc.
To change the value of a property from its default setting, check the box to the left of the property, input the new value to the right, and press Enter. Customized values display with a yellow background for enhanced visibility. To remove the customized value and return to the default, clear the box to the left of the property. When you have finished defining all property values, click Apply and Close.
The following settings are available:
- Contact Friction
Default frictional coefficient for the contact between the tools and the blank.
- Contact Stiffness
Scale factor for sliding interface penalties. A smaller factor produces a certain amount of contact penetration but yields faster simulation time, and therefore is recommended for gravity (in case of no physical beads) simulation. A subsequent forming process is likely to follow and contact conditions will be reestablished there, where a tighter, default SLSFAC with a value of 0.1 should be used.
- Shell Type (Exp.)
Element formulation options for explicit processes like drawing and flanging. For a description of element formulation options, see *SECTION_SHELL —
ELFORMin the LS-DYNA Keyword and Theory Manuals.- Shell Type (Imp.)
Element formulation options for implicit processes like gravity and springback. For a description of element formulation options, see *SECTION_SHELL —
ELFORMin the LS-DYNA Keyword and Theory Manuals.- NIP
Number of integration points in thickness. If you intend to transfer Forming results into Ansys Mechanical, make sure to set
NIP=5.- Shell Shear Stiffness
Shear correction factor which scales the transverse shear stress.
- Output Distance Interval
Number of frames for the Forming result. If this value is less than number of positions in the output, Forming will output a number of frames equal to the number of positions. If this value is larger than the number of output positions, frames are evenly distributed in the output between the first state and the state corresponding to the maximum value from the home position.
- Output Positions
Tool distances for result output. The default is:
5,4,3,2,1.- Output Contact Info
Output contact information like contact gap, surface pressure in post-processing
- History Var. Count
Number of additional integration point history variables written to the binary databases for each integration point
- ASCII Interval Per Time Step
Time interval between ASCII outputs (RCFORC, MATSUM, GLSTAT, RBDOUT) for explicit processes. Time interval between ASCII outputs for implicit processes is defined by implicit time step. Time step is given in explicit time step (default 1e-6). The output frequency of ASCII output is "ASCII Interval Per Time Step" multiplied by "explicit time step"
- Max Velocity
Maximum velocity for tool movement. Default is 2000 mm/s
- Adaptive Interval Dist. Coeff.
Every time the tooling moves this distance (based on the unit system), the blank mesh will be refined.
- Blank Initial Size
Default mesh size for blank meshing
- Blank Initial Element Refinement
Activate adaptive mesh in blank meshing option. Used together with Blank Initial Size.
- Adaptive Size Threshold
Minimum element size for mesh refinement in current phase. If element size is smaller as this size threshold, solver will stop refining the mesh.
- Adaptive Radius Control
Number of elements on a 90° tool radius.
- Adaptive Fusion Frequency
Frequency of fission to fusion steps.
- Adaptive Fusion Angle Tolerance
The adaptivity error tolerance in degrees that will activate fusion.
- Adaptive Fusion Strain Tolerance
The adaptivity error tolerance in strain that will activate fusion.
- Adaptive Method
Enable to activate adaptive mesh control.
- In-Core Adaptivity
Enable this option to activate in-core adaptivity in MPP solutions.
- Explicit Time Step
Time step size for mass-scaled solutions in explicit analysis.
- Implicit Time Step
Time step size for implicit analysis.
- Implicit Step Count
Number of time steps in implicit analysis.
- Cutting Curve Merge Tol.
The two open ends of a trim loop curve will be closed automatically if the gap distance between the two open ends in the model is smaller than this tolerance.
- Mesh Auto Check
Check the mesh in the solver. If you perform a mesh check while defining operations, you can speed up the solution process by turning this option off.
- HF Damping
Enable or disable damping.
- Tool Auto Move
At the beginning of each tool movement, automatically modify the tool position to remove any initial gap between the moving tool and the blank. This will speed up the simulation process.
- Tool Max Element Size
Maximum element size when meshing tools.
- Tool Min Element Size
Minimum element size when meshing tools.
- Tool Max Element Deviation
Maximum element deviation when meshing tools.
- Tool Max Element Angle
Maximum element angle when meshing tools.
- Non-linear Contact Stiffness
Increase contact stiffness by large penetrations only. The scale is from 1 to 5, SMP only.
There are additional settings available for Hot Forming projects that are not available for Cold Stamping projects:
- Blank Initial Temperature
The initial temperature of the blank at the start of the forming process.
- Tool Temperature
The initial temperature of the tools at the start of the forming process.
- Environment Temperature
The initial ambient air temperature at the start of the forming process.
- Convection coefficient (blank and environment)
The coefficient of convection between the blank/part and the surrounding environment during the forming process.
- Heat transfer coefficient (blank and environment)
The coefficient of heat transfer between the blank/part and the surrounding environment during the forming process.
Click the Default OP LCS Setting Task Panel button (
) on the Forming Process Task Panel to access this task panel and view or
modify the default local operation coordinate system.
This panel enables you to create a new local coordinate system for an operation, starting from an existing coordinate system or point. Access this task panel by clicking the button on the Default OP LCS Setting Task Panel.