Thermo-mechanical modelling and sensitivity analysis for metal-forming operations

The coupled deformation and heat flow problems are simultaneously solved for metal-forming processes within the framework of the flow approach. Heat generation by plastic deformation and temperature dependence of the material properties are accounted for. The model foresees a big range of values for the Peclet number by introducing an upwind technique. As a byproduct, sensitivity analysis is carried out by the direct differentiation method. The effect of material or interface properties and numerical parameters involved in the upwind scheme on the solution can thus be assessed. As a practical application, direct and inverse extrusion processes are simulated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.