Comparative investigation into membrane, shell and continuum elements for the rigid-plastic finite element analysis of two-dimensional sheet metal forming problems

Finite element analyses in the field of sheet metal forming have employed t he membrane, shell and continuum elements. The membrane analysis needs a sh ort computational time, but the bending effect cannot be considered at all. Shell analysis allows the consideration of bending effect; however it is l ess accurate than the continuum analysis. This paper presents a comparison of these analyses and experimental data for plane-strain conditions and con siders the characteristics of the multi-layer model on the continuum analys is. The comparisons indicate a close agreement of all analyses with experim ental data in the pure stretching held. For the bending field, it is shown that shell and continuum analyses have meaningful results. The multi-layer continuum analysis gives more detailed information according to the increas e in the number of layers in the thickness direction. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci ence S.A. All rights reserved.