Title: Comparison of new analytical and numerical approaches to model the three-roll-push-bending process

Authors: Raoul Plettke; Peter Vatter

Addresses: Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstraße 13, 91058 Erlangen, Germany ' Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstraße 13, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

Abstract: Freeform bent tubes can be produced with the highly flexible three-roll-push-bending. The process has been fundamentally investigated in recent research by numerical simulation using shell or volume elements. However, because of the large aspect ratio of tube length to wall thickness, computation time required is high. This prohibits the integration in analysis routines to predict the resulting geometry online. In this contribution, the basics of two new approaches are presented to compute the resulting bending radius of two-dimensional freeform bends requiring significantly less computation time. The first approach is based on an analytically derived moment-curvature relationship considering realistic flow behaviour. In the second one, a numerical method is developed using beam elements. The results are compared to experimental data and to numerical results using shell elements for steel and aluminium tubes.

Keywords: freeform bending; tube bending; three-roll push bending; flexible manufacturing systems; FMS; modelling; bending theory; finite element method; FEM; beam elements; shell elements; steel tubes; aluminium tubes; numerical simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2014.067153

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2014 Vol.7 No.4/5/6, pp.279 - 295

Received: 09 Nov 2013
Accepted: 11 Feb 2014

Published online: 07 Feb 2015 *

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