Selection of Shell element or Sold in spinning Process 1

[R.Eng]

Hi,
I'm working on sheet metal spinning process with following characterization:
Thickness: 12 mm
OD of Preformed Sheet: 1100 mm
Material : AISI 304L
Solver: Dynamic Explicit
Which Element do you recommend for this situation? I worked on S4R and I'm not sure about my selection.
Thanks

 

[FEA way]

It would be best to try several types of shell elements and compare their performance (especially if you have experimental data for reference). You can also check the examples in the documentation, they often feature comparison of different elements in cases similar to yours.

Solid elements are not a good choice here unless the part is really thick. But there are also thick shell elements for intermediate cases.

You may want to check the continuum shell elements as well.

 

[R.Eng]

In explicit as you know we don't have several option for shell parts.I was forced to select S4R and the only problme is that the edge of sheet gets wavy! Does the shell element (instead of solid) affect this problem? BTW Springback is dominant. How can I avoid these problems as much as possible?

 

[FEA way]

Indeed, Abaqus/Explicit is somewhat limited in terms of available types of elements but still there are a few types of shells to choose from. In such cases solid elements are rarely a good option and I would rather try continuum shells. Those might give you a better performance in your analysis. For example they are more accurate in terms of contact modeling.

 

[R.Eng]

Could you please mention the main changes in Abaqus settings with continuum shell instead of conventional shells?

 

[FEA way]

The main difference is that you have to create a solid part and assign shell section to it. Then in the mesh module assign continuum shell element type, check stack orientation (query tool) and modify it if needed. Finally, mesh the part with hex elements. These steps are described in the documentation chapter "Modeling continuum shells".

 

[R.Eng]

Thank you so much.