Strategies for 3D simulation of electromagnetic forming processes

Although electromagnetic forming is a technology known for a few decades, renewed interest for its industrial application is currently taking place. Along with this interest an increasing demand for simulation tools Can be found. Up to now, modeling approaches found for this process in the literature are restricted to the axisymmetric case or small deformation problems. However, for real industrial applications, the modeling of large deformation 3D forming operations becomes crucial for an effective process design. On the basis of previous modeling concepts in the work at hand we develop and investigate further approaches particularly suitable to reduce the enormous computational cost inherent to 3D simulations. These consist of a carefully chosen discretization, a data transfer method for both, the electromagnetic loads and the mechanical deformation to utilize an efficient solid shell formulation and a termination criterion for the electromagnetic part of the model. As a result the simulation time is reduced by about one order of magnitude. Finally, a 3D forming setup is modeled and detailed insights with respect to the development of eddy currents, magnetic field and deformation of the sheet metal are provided. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.