Multiphysics simulation of metal sheet electromagnetic forming

Abstract

Electromagnetic Forming (EMF) is a deformation process at high speed that couples electromagnetic, mechanical and thermal problems. Due to the complexity of these couplings, the simulation of the process via finite elements (FEM) is a not a straightforward question. Nevertheless, the software must be able to simulate the electromagnetic fields and its mechanical effect on the work pieces, induced eddy currents and, at the same time, it must predict the deformed shape of the work piece and the inducted thermal effects as a consequence of both electromagnetic phenomena and the heat caused by the plastic deformation of work piece. Nowadays the few commercial software able to simulate multiphysic problems show certain limitations. That is why we propose a new simulation approach, based on the codes ERMES and Stampack®, which solves the above mentioned limitations while maintaining a good correlation with the experimental results.