THE METALFORMING INDUSTRY IS ACTIVELY SEEKING METHODS TO ANALYZE THE MATERIAL FLOW DURING PRODUCTION PROCESSES.

THE METALFORMING INDUSTRY IS ACTIVELY SEEKING METHODS TO ANALYZE THE MATERIAL FLOW DURING PRODUCTION PROCESSES. ACCURATE COMPUTER MODELLING WOULD PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR PROCESS DESIGN. TWO-DIMENSIONAL FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS HAS BEEN USED TO SUCCESSFULLY MODEL SEVERAL METALFORMING PROBLEMS, BUT IS INCAPABLE, BECAUSE OF ITS TWO-DIMENSIONAL NATURE, OF MODELLING SOME VERY IMPORTANTPHENOMENA. THREE-DIMENSIONAL METALFORMING COMPUTER CODES CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT HAVE TWO SHORTCOMINGS: COLOSSAL COMPUTER-MEMORY AND CPU-TIME REQUIREMENTS, AND LIMITATION TOA STATIC OR QUASI-STATIC FORMULATION. WE PROPOSE TO MODIFY THE EPIC-3 FINITE-ELEMENT COMPUTER CODETO PRODUCE AN EFFICIENT, GENERAL-PURPOSE, 3-D, FINITE-ELEMENT COMPUTER CODE FOR ANALYSIS OF METALFORMING PROBLEMS EPIC-3 WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPMENT TO SIMULATE THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF SOLID MATERIALS SUBJECTED TO INTENSE LOADS, SO HIGH-STRAIN-RATE METALFORMING PROBLEMS SHOULD BE MORE EASILY SOLVEABLE. IN ADDITON, EPIC-3'S EFFICIENT COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH REQUIRES SIGNIFICANTLY LESS COMPUTER RESOURCES. IN PHASE I, EPIC-3 WILL BE MODIFIED, AND ITS ACCURACY AND EFFICIENCY WILL BE ASSESSED BY ACTUALLY SOLVING A SELECTED METAL FORMING PROBLEM FOR WHICH THE EXACTSOLUTION IS KNOWN.