Journal o[ Materials Processing Technology, 27 (1991) 119-133 119

Elsevier

3-D finite element modelling of the forging process

with automatic remeshing

Thierry Coupez, Nathalie Soyris and Jean-Loup Chenot

Ecole Nationale Supdrieure des Mines de Paris, Centre de Mise en Forme des Matdriaux,
Sophia Antipolis, 06560 Valbonne, France

Industrial Summary

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the interest of using a finite element program to sim-
ulate the forging process of industrial parts. The FORGE3code, which can simulate hot forging of
industrial parts, is presented: thermo-mechanical formulation, numerical resolution. It is well
known that, in an updated lagrangian approach using a convective mesh, the degeneracy of the
mesh occurs very rapidly and stops the simulation. An automatic mesh generation procedure for
3-D complex geometries has been developed with which it is possible to create the initial mesh of
the billet as well as to remesh it after its degeneracy. This technique enables to simulate the whole
forging process of complex industrial parts using quadratic tetrahedra. In order to show the effec-
tiveness of the method, the example of the forging of a tripod has been computed. The simulation
results show that the computation can be carried out using the described remeshing procedure
and that it can be applied with success to even more complex geometries.

1. Introduction

During the last twenty years, more and more studies have been done to model
hot forming processes. The forging industry is slowly introducing numerical
simulation codes that have been written to calculate the deformation of axi-
symmetrical or 2-D parts. But for complex industrial parts, a 3-D code has to
be used and this is under development. A lot of work has already been published
on viscoplastic or rigid-plastic finite element computation [ 1-4 ]. Most of the
applications concern the field of metal forming in 2-D approximations or axi-
symmetrical configurations [5-10]. Three-dimensional approaches were re-
ported for the forging of very simple parts [ 11-13]. More complex industrial
shapes have been presented [14-16 ]. But one of the most limitating problems
seems to be the evolution of the mesh if an updated lagrangian description is
used: the mesh can become so distorted that remeshing is absolutely necessary
to prevent the degeneracy of the elements. A lot of work has already been
devoted to the construction of meshes with optimum geometric properties, or
with some degree of adaptivity to the solution [17-21]. A continuous remesh-

0924-0136/91/$03.50 © 1991--Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

120

ing technique has been suggested [22] which allows to keep a smooth and
adaptive mesh during the whole process. This method has been illustrated in
2-D examples with four-node linear elements [23] and in 3-D examples with
cubic eight-node linear elements [24]. For 2-D cases, forging computations
with fully automatic remeshing procedures have been developed [25] involv-
ing triangular elements. The problem is much more difficult for complex 3-D
geometries. A modular remeshing has been presented that allows the complete
forging simulation of gears [26], but this technique is not fully automatic and
does not seem easy and possible to apply for complex industrial geometries. To
overcome this difficulty, and automatic mesh generation and remeshing pro-
cedure has been developed, it allows to simulate the complete forging of com-
plex geometries using ten-node quadratic elements. In the present paper the
forging code FORGE3 and its mesh generation procedure are described in detail.
The complete forging simulation of a tripod is given as an example to illustrate
the effectiveness of the code.

2. T h e r m o - m e c h a n i e a l formulation

2.1 The mechanical and constitutive equations

Mechanics
The equilibrium equation, neglecting inertia and gravity forces, is written,
using the Cauchy stress tensor:
V'o=O

Material behavior
The material is assumed to be isotropic and incompressible with the condi-
tion on the velocity field v (or the strain rate tensor ~):
V . v = t r &=O
In hot forging conditions, the elastic effects have a small contribution in the
deformation, they are neglected, and the material is assumed to obey a visco-
plastic law derived from a viscoplastic potential ¢t. The deviatoric stress tensor
is then related to the strain rate tensor by:
0~(v)

The Norton-Hoff law has been chosen:

so that
 121

S_-- 2K(v/-3~-)m- 1~
The strain rate sensitivity m, characterizing a Newtonian fluid if equal to 1
or the Von Mises rigid-plastic behavior if equal to 0, is usually around 0.1-0.3
for hot metals.
The temperature and the isotropic hardening are easily taken into account
by introducing a relationship between the consistency K, the equivalent strain
and the temperature T:

K = Ko (Co + e) nex4 •

2.2 The mechanical boundary conditions

A friction law, consistent with the viscoplastic constitutive equation is built
from a friction potential ¢~f(Av), where Av is the difference between the veloc-
ities of the part and the die on the interface and At~t its tangential component:
AU~V--U d

The friction shear stress is then:

0~f(hv)
0v
A friction potential similar to the Norton-Hoff one has been chosen:

~f(Av) -- a K IIA r t IIp + 1

-p+l
so that
~'= -- o~KAut ]1A r t IIp - 1

where a is the friction coefficient a n d p the friction rate sensitivity parameter.

There is no force on the free surfaces:
f=O
The contact is unilateral, a point of the part comes in contact or leaves but
cannot penetrate the die; the non-penetrability condition (of the material in
the die) is written:
(U--Ut)'n~0
where n is the outside normal unit vector on the part.

2.3 The associated functional

Let us define the part as the domain ~, Sf and S T the portions of the bound-
ary in contact and where a surface traction T may be imposed. The variational
1'2'2

method leads to the functional J(v) which is minimum for the velocity field
solution u:

J(v)= fO(v)d~+ fOf(Av)dSf- f T*vdST

~2 St" ST

with the constraint V. v = 0 to prescribe the incompressibility on t~.

In the special case of the N o r t o n - H o f f law and the conditions previously
given we write:

d(v)= ~ (v/36) d~+ HA r t IlP+ldSf

Q
with V- v = 0 on ~2.
To enforce the incompressibility requirement, the penalty method is used
and the functional is rewritten:

Jp(t~): 2 ~ ( ~ f 3 ( ) d~-~- A~)tHP+ldSf+½p K(V'o)2d~Q

where p is a large positive constant.

2.4 The heat transfer equation

Using an isotropic Fourier law for the heat flux, the differential heat transfer
equation is
dT
pc~= V. (kVT) + I)V

where Pl/is the heat production due to the viscoplastic deformation

i)d=r6: ~
if r is the rate of heat conversion energy ( r ~ 1 ).
For the N o r t o n - H o f f law, this gives:
W= rK(~3~-)~+'

2.5 Thermal boundary conditions

The boundary conditions are very general:
(i) On the free surface there is convection and radiation
-kVT'n=h( T - Text)
with
h=hcv+er(~r(T.+.Text)(T2+ Text)
2
 123

where h~v is the convection coefficient, ~r the metal emissivity, ar the Stefan
constant and Text the outside temperature.
(ii) On the surface in contact with the dies we have both conduction with the
tool and surface energy due to the friction:
b
-kVT'n=hcd( T - Td) -b---~aaKLI AV t IIp+ I

where h ~ i s the conductive heat transfer coefficient, Ta the die temperature, b

(b=x/kpc) and bd the effusivity of the part and the die respectively.

3. Numerical resolution

Using an updated lagrangian method, the whole process to simulate is cut in

small time steps on which the mechanical problem and the thermal one are
solved separately one after another.

3.1 Resolution of the mechanical equation

Using the finite element method, the unknown function V can be approxi-
mated throughout ~ at any time t, by the relationship:
q
V-~ 2 N i V i
i=1

where q is the number of nodes of the element, Ni the shape function related
to the ith nodal point and V i the nodal velocity. The minimization of the dis-
cretized functional gives a set of non linear algebraic equations which is solved
by the Newton-Raphson method. An explicite eulerian integration scheme is
then used:
~ ( t + At2) = ~ ( t ) + V(t)At2

3.2 Resolution of the thermal equation

As it has been done for the velocity, the temperature is written:
q
T= ~ N i Ti
i=l
where T / is the temperature at the ith nodal point. The numerical discretiza-
tion of the equation and its associated boundary conditions is done using a
weighted residual method and the Galerkin method. This leads to the differ-
ential non linear equations set which can be written in a matrix form as:

C?+ KT+ Q = 0
124

Three-level integration schemes, consistent to the second order have been

chosen:

T=aTt_ ~t, + (~- 2a-g) Tt + (a-- ½+ g) Tt+ At2

dT (1 - g ) Tt -- Tt_ at, +gTt+ At2 -- Tt
dt At1 At2

A linearized technique has been tested, so that each non-linear parameter

A (C,K,Q) is written:

A*= (½ -g)At-/~tl + (½+g)At

The differential equation then leads to a set of linear equations where the nodal
temperatures T i are the unknowns.

3.3 Resolution algorithm

The mechanical problem and the thermal one are solved independently at
each time step. At time t the temperatures Tt and Tt_ ~,,, the consistency Kt
and the domain ~2, are known; then the viscoplastic resolution is computed:
the velocity Vt, the friction flux, the plastic work rate and the domain ~2t+At2
are obtained; at last the thermal calculation is computed: the temperature
Tt+ at2 and the consistancy Kt+/,t2 are found.

4. Automatic remeshing

A lot of work has been presented in the literature on the mesh generation
and on the mesh quality and adaptivity improvement even in 3-D. The differ-
ent applications concerned rectangular (in 2-D ) and cubic (in 3-D) elements.
To make the mesh generation and the remeshing procedure fully automatic
with these elements critical geometric difficulties must be overcome. The same
operations with triangles and tetrahedra are easier; this allows to create a mesh
whatever the complexity of the geometry. Also to maintain a good precision in
the incompressibility condition, and using a convective mesh, quadratic ele-
ments are well suited. Moreover these elements give a better approximation of
the curved surface all along the deformation of the part.
The mesh generation procedure that is developed in the following pages gives
a 3-D quadratic mesh. It is automatic in the sense that with few interactive
informations from the user, it creates a mesh fitting perfectly the geometry of
the part and well adapted to a forging code.
 125

4.1 Mesh generation

The procedure developed to create ten-node quadratic tetrahedra meshes is
very general and is applicable to remesh a deformed mesh as well as to generate
the initial mesh for the beginning of the simulation. In both cases, the mesh
generation requires the description of the closed outside surface of the part and
especially its discretization in small linear triangles. T h e n the mesh will be
made automatically through three main procedures:
(i) creation of a linear surface mesh,
(ii) creation of a quadratic surface mesh,
(iii) creation of a quadratic volume mesh.

Discretization of the outside surface of the part

To mesh the initial part, the user has to give the geometrical information:
using a commercial CAD code, he designs the surface and represents it with
linear triangles (representation no. 0 of the surface). This is an imposed step.
For a remeshing, this information is deduced from the previous deformed
mesh (volume-mesh no. 1 and surface-mesh no. 1 ): each quadratic triangle of
the deformed surface-mesh no. 1 is cut into several smaller linear triangles as
close as possible to the real surface (representation no. 1 of the surface). Dur-
ing this operation new nodes have been created, some of them may be inside
the dies, so this representation is then modified to avoid the nodes penetrating
into the dies: it gives the representation no. 2 of the surface from which the
mesh will be created.

Creation of a linear surface mesh

The representation no. 2 of the surface is not used as a triangular linear mesh
of the surface because it has too many nodes. So a new linear triangular mesh
for the surface is deduced from the representation no. 2. In this step the num-
ber of nodes and triangles on the surface is reduced while maintaining a good
precision on the geometry, this gives the surface-mesh no. 2.

Creation of a quadratic surface mesh

In this step, the linear triangles of the previous surface mesh are curved to
match as precisely as possible the real surface of the part at this stage of re-
meshing given by the representation no. 2. This gives a mesh of the surface
with six-node quadratic triangles: surface-mesh no. 3.

Creation of a quadratic volume mesh

Four-node linear tetrahedra are first created, fitting exactly the linear sur-
face mesh. T h e n this volumic linear mesh is refined by adding nodes inside the
volume. Finally nodes are added on the lines of each tetrahedron. Combined
with the quadratic surface mesh, this gives a ten-node quadratic tetrahedral
mesh: volume-mesh no. 2.
126

4.2 Remeshing procedure • I .

For the complete mmulatlon of a forging pass, different stages are necessary
independently of how the meshes are created:
( 1 ) the geometrical definition of the part is needed: here, it is given by a linear
triangles representation (no. 0);
(2) the mesh is created, see Section 4.1 (surface-mesh nos. 2 and 3, volume-
mesh no. 2);
(3) the forging simulation is computed and stopped either due to mesh degen-
eracy or other criteria such as the penetration of the nodes into the dies:
in our procedure the simulation does not stop on other criteria than the
degeneracy of the mesh, a manual step is necessary, by visualizing the
results it can be decided to remesh before; the user decides himself when
he thinks he should remesh (surface-mesh no. i and volumic-mesh no. 1 );
(4) the geometrical definition of the deformed part is deduced from the sim-
ulation results (representation no. 1 );
(5) the new mesh is created, see Section 4.1 (representation no. 2, surface-
mesh nos. 2 and 3, volume-mesh no. 2);
(6) the state variables are interpolated from the old mesh to the new one: here,
a very simple interpolation is done for each node of the new mesh using its
neighbouring nodes in the old mesh.
Then it is possible to carry on the forging simulation, and, by repeating the
stages three to six, to finish it.

5. R e m e s h i n g o f a t r i p o d

Because of the symmetry, only one sixth of the whole part has been calcu-
lated in isothermal conditions•
Figure 1 gives an idea of the different steps of the calculation. Figure 1 (a) is
a view of the initial mesh. This first mesh has been made using the geometrical
data of the outside surface defined by 696 linear triangles which has been ob-
tained by the CAD code CATIA (representation no. 0); this first mesh of the
part has 144 boundary quadratic triangles, 195 quadratic tetrahedra and 432
nodes•
After 30% reduction, some sides of elements penetrate the dies (Fig. 1 (b))
the mesh is not well adapted for further calculation, it has been decided to
make a new one. The geometrical data of the outside surface (representation
no. 1 and no. 2) has 2304 linear triangles: the second mesh of the part auto-
matically generated has 110 quadratic triangles on the surface, 154 quadratic
tetrahedra and 340 nodes. Note that this second mesh of the part has less nodes
than the first one but gives a better precision. Figure l ( c ) is a view of this
second mesh, and Fig. 1 (d) shows its deformation after several increments:
the axis begins to appear.
At 80% reduction a second remeshing has been made using the surface dis-
 127

.... :~ i¸

(a)

(c)

Fig. 1. (a) Initial mesh; (b) first mesh at 30% reduction; (c) first remeshing at 30% reduction.
128

Fig. 1. (d) Intermediate deformation of the second mesh; (e) second remeshing at 80% reduction.

cretization (representation no. 1 ) in 1760 linear triangles given by the second

mesh of the part (upper part of Fig. 1 (e)). The third mesh and last one with
200 quadratic triangles, 294 quadratic tetrahedra and 633 nodes is shown on
 129

Fig. 2.At the end of the forging simulation. (a) final geometry: thickness of the flash; (b) whole
tripod.
130

Fig. 3. Evolution of the deformation of the part with the dies during forging: (a) initial position
and first mesh; (b) first remeshing at 30% reduction; (c) second mesh deformation; (d) second
remeshing.

the lower part of Fig. 1 (e). Note on this view that the geometrical precision is
excellent: the upper part is the given geometry while the meshed lower part
represents the geometry resulting from the mesh generation. Figure 2 (a) shows
the part at the end of the computation: the thickness of the flash between the
axes is only a few percent of the part height. Only quadratic tetrahedra allow
 131

Fig. 3. Evolutionof the deformationof the part with the dies duringforging: (e) almostfinished.

such achievements. Figure 2 (b) is a view of the whole tripod at the end of the
simulation and forging.
Finally Fig. 3 gives the evolution of the part deformation between the dies
during the forging: (a) initial position and first mesh; (b) first remeshing at
30% reduction; (c) second mesh deformation; (d) second remeshing; and (e)
almost finished!

6. Conclusions

A complete forging program F O R G E 3 has been presented here. A new, fully

automatic remeshing procedure, that generates quadratic tetrahedral ele-
ments, has been described. The complete forging simulation of a tripod has
been computed and analyzed. The remeshing scheme, illustrated here, enables
the program to simulate the forging of any complex industrial part. Neverthe-
less several improvements have to be developed: introduction of remeshing
criteria in the forging code, integration of the remeshing procedure in the forg-
ing code itself so that the whole simulation will be fully automatic, as it is done
for example in the 2-D code FORGE2. Other industrial cases that have not been
presented here have already been computed in isothermal conditions, thermo-
mechanical resolution has now to be tested on these cases. And of course com-
parisons between calculation and reality will check the results validity.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the companies Peugeot, Pechiney, Forges de Cour-

celles, Teksid and the French Ministate de la Recherche et de la Technologie
for their financial support.
132

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