Mesh Re-zoning In Multi-Stand Rolling.

A solution to mesh distortion and subsequent breakdown in solution procedure in the finite element analysis of multi-stand rolling is presented in this work. Simple cubic spline fits are applied on the deformed outer surface of the rolled material to smoothen the geometry due to distortion from the deformation in the previous stands. A mesh re-zoning algorithm found in the literature is applied while retaining the original number of elements in the new mesh. The appropriate boundary conditions are applied efficiently with the use of a linear interpolation. The approach is illustrated for the multi-stand rolling of a nickel-base super alloy bar of circular cross-section. An in-house finite element program for steady state rolling, based on ALE technique was employed for the current work. The results show that the mesh re-zoning algorithm eliminates the numerical issues associated with the mesh distortion. The predicted results for the final shape are also found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]