INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER-SIMULATION IN STAMPING

The paper summarizes important technological and modelling issues rela ted to the industrial simulation of sheet metal forming processes. An explicit Finite Element simulation code has been developed and applied to the analysis of a number of industrial parts. Based on the experie nce of those analyses, an industrial methodology is described. The aim of the methodology is to provide, at the early design stage, informat ion on the product formability with a workload and lead time adapted t o the design cycle. The application of this methodology is illustrated on several industrial examples showing important stamping phenomena. Finally, more recent developments and applications are discussed.