Title: Mechanical stresses in the multilayered T-branch hydroforming: numerical simulation

Authors: M.D. Islam, A.G. Olabi, M.S.J. Hashmi

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. ' School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. ' School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland

Abstract: In the manufacturing process, materials are deformed plastically at a level or lower than the ultimate stress of the materials. In the hydroforming process, the deformation of the material occurs non-linearly and this introduces mechanical stresses which are developed into the final products. This paper describes different kind of mechanical stresses which result from the hydroforming process in a multilayered T-branch simulation. Simulations have been carried out for the multilayered tubes comprising an outer layer of commercial brass and an internal layer of annealed copper. Currently, no classical solution exists for this type of problem. For that reason a numerical analysis has been presented in this paper. Analyses have been carried out under different loading conditions and the allowable stress that is developed in the final products is presented for the top central node and in addition to the overall model.

Keywords: hydroforming; simulation; mechanical stresses; stress analysis; deformation; multilayered tubes; brass; annealed copper.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2008.019662

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2008 Vol.15 No.2, pp.238 - 245

Published online: 18 Jul 2008 *

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