A Study on the Development of Dedicated FEA Tool for Roll Forming of Asymmetrical U-Channel

Abstract

In a roll forming process, a desired profile is produced through continuous bending of a sheet metal strip. Occurrences of spring back, twist, and bow are major defects in roll formed profiles. We developed a dedicated analysis program based on the elastic-plastic finite element method to simulate roll forming processes with asymmetrical shaped rolls. We applied the augmented Lagrangian technique in contact algorithm and a pre-determined deformation region division method for computation efficiency. A simplified cross section produced via three passes of roll forming has been experimented to be measured in the amounts of twist and bow occurred after roll forming. The performance of the developed FEA tool has been verified with measurements in terms of accuracy. The tool has been evaluated in terms of computation efficiency by comparison of without region division method.