Engineering Computations

Emerald Article: Aluminum alloy profile extrusion simulation using finite volume method on nonorthogonal structured grids Shumei Lou, Guoqun Zhao, Rui Wang

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To cite this document: Shumei Lou, Guoqun Zhao, Rui Wang, (2010),"Aluminum alloy profile extrusion simulation using finite volume method on nonorthogonal structured grids", Engineering Computations, Vol. 29 Iss: 1 pp. 31 - 47 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02644401211190555 Downloaded on: 01-04-2012 References: This document contains references to 13 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 110 times.

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Aluminum alloy prole extrusion simulation using nite volume method on nonorthogonal structured grids
Shumei Lou
Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Taian, China

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

31

Guoqun Zhao
Engineering Research Center for Mould & Die Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, China, and

Rui Wang
Linyi Normal University, Linyi, China
Abstract
Purpose The paper aims to use the nite volume method widely used in computational uid dynamics to avoid the serious remeshing and mesh distortion during aluminium prole extrusion processes simulation when using the nite element method. Block-structured grids are used to t the complex domain of the extrusion. A nite volume method (FVM) model for aluminium extrusion numerical simulation using non-orthogonal structured grids was established. Design/methodology/approach The inuences of the elements nonorthogonality on the governing equations discretization of the metal ow in aluminium extrusion processes were fully considered to ensure the simulation accuracy. Volume-of-uid (VOF) scheme was used to catch the free surface of the unsteady ow. Rigid slip boundary condition was applied on non-orthogonal grids. Findings This paper involved a simulation of a typical aluminium extrusion process by the FVM scheme. By comparing the simulation by the FVM model established in this paper with the ones simulated by the nite element method (FEM) software Deform-3D and the corresponding experiments, the correctness and efciency of the FVM model for aluminium alloy prole extrusion processes in this paper was proved. Originality/value This paper uses the FVM widely used in CFD to calculate the aluminium prole extrusion processes avoiding the remeshing and mesh distortion during aluminium prole extrusion processes simulation when using the nite element method. Block-structured grids with the advantage of simple data structure, small storage and high numerical efciency are used to t the complex domain of the extrusion. Keywords Flow, Aluminium, Alloys, Aluminum prole extrusion, Finite volume method, Non-orthogonal block-structured grids, Volume-of-uid scheme Paper type Research paper
Engineering Computations: International Journal for Computer-Aided Engineering and Software Vol. 29 No. 1, 2012 pp. 31-47 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0264-4401 DOI 10.1108/02644401211190555

This research work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (No. 50425517), and Promotive research fund for excellent young and middle-aged scientists of Shandong Province (No. BS2010ZZ008). Thanks for the cutting-edge information at International Conference on Extrusion and Benchmark.

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1. Introduction The production of aluminum alloy prole now is mainly by extruding. Under high pressure, aluminum ingot-shaped billet with certain speed and temperature is squeezed into die cavity, and then a prole having almost the same cross-section with the cavity can be got. During aluminum alloy extrusion, the deformation is strenuous, and the metal ow is complicated. To predict the metal ow, strain and stress distribution, numerical simulations are very useful to avoid extrusion defects, such as stress concentration and bending. The simulation can decrease the product development time and improve the product development quality. Many numerical methods are used to simulate the aluminum alloy extrusion, among which the nite element method (FEM) is the most popular one. Zhou et al. (2003), Lof and Blockhuis (2002) and Krause et al. (2004) simulated complex and thin-walled aluminum extrusion processes using the FEM approach. Some inuential conferences like International Conference on Extrusion and Benchmark (www.ice-b.net) and ET conference series (www.etfoundation.org) provide extrusion benchmarks mostly simulated by FEM codes. Since the deformation ratio of the aluminum alloy extrusion is relatively large, simulation using FEM can unavoidably encounter remeshing processes, which would cause much time consuming and serious volume lost, and even simulation interruption due to mesh distortion. In these years, the nite volume method (FVM) which was widely used in the computational uid eld is applied into aluminum alloy prole extrusion by Zhou and Su (2003) and Lou et al. (2008). However, the grids they used are orthogonal, and stepwise approximation is applied to t cylindrical or complex boundaries. To decrease the simulation error, the grids on the border often need partial grid renement as shown in Figure 1(a). This would increase the number of the grids and thus inuence the computational speed, and furthermore could not avoid the numerical error fundamentally. What is more important is that stepwise approximation makes it difcult to apply boundary conditions. To improve the grids tness ability of the complex or curved boundary, the most effective method is to use body-tted grids. Nowadays, body-tted grids generation methods generally conclude two different types. One is coordination translation method, which transforms irregular geometries of physical domain into simple and regular geometries of computational domain, as demonstrated by Thompson (1980). But the coordinate transformation can lead to rather complex governing equations and ambiguous physical meaning of terms. The other is the non-orthogonal grid method raised by Ferziger and Peric (2002). According to the relationship of the cells central nodes, this method is divided into structured and unstructured girds. Structured girds are orderly in arrangement, and the position relationships of the neighbor nodes are clear. In unstructured grids, the positions of the central nodes are disordered. Compared with the structured grids, unstructured grids can t irregular border better, even as well as the FEM approach can do. But the immense job of unstructured grids generation and the low solving speed of the discreted governing equations are the bottlenecks of unstructured grids method. Structured grids method has the advantages of simple data structure, small storage, high numerical efciency, etc. To improve the tness of the structure grids to complicated border, in this paper, block-structured grids were used, as shown in Figure 1(b). The typical aluminum prole extrusion eld was discreted by non-orthogonal block-structured grids. On the interface of the blocks, additional treatments to connect the calculations in the blocks are needed. By using the block-structured grids, the complex boundaries of general aluminum prole extrusion could be tted well.

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

Mesh refinement in y dimension y Mesh refinement x dimension (a) Block1 x z

33

Block3

Block2

(b)

Notes: (a) Non-orthogonal grids; (b) orthogonal grids

Figure 1. The grids used to discrete owing elds

2. Numerical model 2.1 Constitutive equations In the aluminum prole extrusion, plastic deformation is very large. Elastic deformations in extrusion processes are usually negligible compared with plastic deformation. So the deformation material is considered as rigid visco-plastic material. Since the extrusion is a process with forced ow, material during hot prole extrusions is assumed isotropic. Therefore, it is described as a non-linear Newtonian uid material, and the relationship of the stress and the strain is expressed by Faghri et al. (1984) and Asako and Faghri (1986) as follows:  s 0ij 2m1 1ij 1 _ _ _ where, m is the dynamic viscosity coefcient, 1 stands for the equivalent strain rate. 1ij _  represents the strain rate and is expressed as:   1 ui uj ; 1ij _ 2 xj xi and the dynamic viscosity coefcient is expressed as:

1s  _ 31 

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34

where, s is the equivalent stress. To make the equation (2) valid, the equivalent strain rate  _ 1 cannot be zero. Otherwise, the material behaves as a rigid body. In order to extend the  _ _ _ model to the rigid zones, a lower, limiting value of 10 must be dened, that is, when 1 # 10 ,    _ the control volume (CV) is assumed as rigid body (elastic region in nature), and 1 is  assumed to be 102 3 s2 1. During metal plastic forming, the constitutive equation can be expressed as equation (3):

s s 1; 1; T    _ 

From equations (1)-(3), it can be seen that the dynamic viscosity coefcient m can be _ presented as a function of equivalent strain 1, equivalent strain rate 1 and temperature   T. Equation (3) can be expressed by different material types according to the material properties, the deformation temperature, etc. (Aukrust, 1997). 2.2 Non-orthogonal structured grid The metal ow elds during the aluminum prole extrusion need to be meshed. To improve the tness of the mesh to the complex region in actual aluminum prole extrusion, and avoid the numerical error and the boundary condition imposing difculty brought by the stepwise approximation, this paper used non-orthogonal hexahedron structured grids to discrete the ow regions of the aluminum prole extrusion. An arbitrary hexahedron structured grid is shown in Figure 2. In the methods using orthogonal grids, staggered arrangement (Lou et al., 2008) can successfully deal with the coupling of the velocity and the pressure and avoid erasing the shocks of the pressure eld. But when the meshes are improved from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and simulation region is more complex, the disadvantages of staggered arrangement, that is, complicated and inappropriate program, become more prominent. So another variable arrangement method, collocated arrangement, is widely used for calculation in three-dimensional non-orthogonal or curved coordinate. In collocated grid, all variables are stored on the central nodes of the FVM cell, as shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that not only the scalars but also the vector components u, v and w are stored on the central nodes. 2.3 Governing equations No matter what grids are used, the metal ow would satisfy the governing equations, such as continuity equation, momentum equation and energy equation. The general form of the governing equations is:

Velocity Node

w P

v w u E

v u

Figure 2. Non-orthogonal grids and variable arrangement in collocated grids

y x

 rf divru f divG f gradf S f t

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

where, f is the general variable representing components of velocity vector u, v, w and temperature T, etc. Gf is the general diffusion coefcient. When f represents a variable, Gf represents the corresponding physical meaning. For example, when f represents the velocity components, Gf is dynamic viscosity m, while f denotes the temperature T, Gf is thermal conductivity k. Sf is general source corresponding to different meaning of f. u is the velocity vector on the CV face. The integration of equation (4) in the CV V on the time step Dt is:   Z Z tDt Z tDt Z rfdt dV n ru fdS dt t t t V S 5  Z tDt Z Z tDt Z n Gf gradfdS dt S f dVdt
t S t V

35

where, S is the area of the CV face. 2.4 Discrete of the governing equations Terms of the integrated form of the governing equation (5) on the non-orthogonal grid are discreted. The discrete procedure is similar with the orthogonal grid. But it is important to consider the non-orthogonality of the grid fully. In this paper, the discrete processes of the terms of the governing equations on the east CV face Se of an arbitrary non-orthogonal hexahedral cell are studied, as shown in Figure 3. The discretizations of the equations on the other ve CV faces, that is, west, north, south, top and bottom faces (w, n, s, t, b), are in the same way. P is assumed to be the central node of the current volume. Its vector is rP. E, N and EN are the central node of the east, north and north-east volumes, respectively. Point e0 is the intersection point of the line P-E and the face Se. Point e is the centre point of face Se. ne is the normal vector of Se. At the same time, it is one of the dimensions in the local coordinate (n, t, s) assumed for convenience. The direction of the line between the node P and E is dened to be j. Because of the non-orthogonality of the grid, j is not necessary consistent to the surface vector ne, and point e0 also not necessary coincides with the center e. So auxiliary points P0 and E0 are used to calculate the normal gradient on the face. Here, point P0 is the intersection point of the surface vector ne and the face which goes through the line P-N and is parallel to Se. Point E0 is the intersection points of ne and the face which includes the line E-NE and is parallel to Se.
Cell Nodes Auxiliary Nodes r P' P p e' S e N e E E x n EN

y x

Figure 3. East CV surface of the non-orthogonal grid

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(1) Approximation of the change of time term. The rst term of equation (5), which is the change of time term, is discreted by using Euler implicit method: d dt Z
V

rfdV <

rfVm 2 rfVm21 dt m

36

where, the superscript m represents the current time step, and m 2 1 represents the last time step. (2) Approximation of the convective term. By using midpoint rule approximation method raised by Ferziger and Peric (2002), the convective term is discreted. The mass ux through CV face Se is expressed: Z _ rv n dS < rv ne S e 7 me
Se

If the components of Se are expressed as S x , S y and S z , then the mass ux may be e e e expressed as follow: _ 8 me r S x ue S y ve S z we e e e The surface vector included in equations (7) and (8) can be calculated by decomposing the surface into several triangles with one common vertex. The surface normal vectors of these triangles are easily computed. Then the surface vector is the sum of surface vector of the triangles: Se
NV 1X r i21 2 r 1 r i 2 r 1 2 i3

where, NV represents the number of the vertices in the cell face and ri is the position vector of the vertex i. Based on the expression of the mass ux in equation (8), the ux of the general variable f through Se can be expressed as: Z _ rfv n dS < me fe 10 Fe
Se

where fe is the variable value on point e. This value can be interpolated by the neighbor nodes of the face. But if the points e and e0 does not coincide with each other, the error of the linear interpolation will not be ignored. So the difference between the two points e and e0 should be considered to weaken the error caused by the grid non-orthogonality. Value of fe0 can be obtained by linear interpolation of the value of f on P and E. Then fe can be calculated by the following equation:

fe < fe0 gradfP r e 2 r e0

11

(3) Approximation of the diffusive term. By using midpoint rule approximation method, the diffusive term is discreted into:

Fd e

Z
Se

0 Ggradf ndS < Ggradf ne S e @G

X f
i

1 A Se
e

x i

12

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

where, (f/xi) is the gradient of f on the face Se. It is calculated by interpolation of the CV nodes. So the value on the central node P, (f/xi)P, should be calculated rst, which can be replaced by the average value of the whole CV: R   f=xi dV f 13 < V x i P DV The derivative f/xi can be considered as the divergence of the vector fii, and the volume integral in the above equation can be transformed into a surface integral by Gauss theorem: Z Z X f dV fii n dS < fc S ic ; c e; n; w; s; t; b 14 c V xi S By substituting equation (14) into equation (13), the gradient of f in the xi-dimension can be expressed as: P   fc S ic f 15 < c x i P DV Then the gradient f/xi can be calculated by interpolation of the CV nodes as expressed by equation (15). By substituting equation (15) into equation (12), the diffusive term can be calculated. But in this method, an oscillatory solution may be generated in the course of the iteration procedure. Furthermore, the explicit method for this approach is simple and effective, but is not suitable for implementation in an implicit method since it produces large computational molecules. So the deferred correction approach is used. It consists of a simple approximation to the diffusive ux implicitly and creation of a right-hand side which is the difference between the correct and approximate uxes. With good choices of approximations, the convergence of the implicit method is not impaired by the deferred correction. After using the deferred correction method, the diffusive term F d can be expressed as follows: e h im21 16 F d F d;impl F d;expl 2 F d;impl e e e e where, the superscript impl and expl represent the implicit and explicit form, and m 2 1 means the value in previous iteration. In equation (12), the diffusive term can also be expressed by the gradient in the local coordinates (n, t, s). Because only the derivative in the n-direction contributes to the diffusive ux, F d can be expressed as: e   f d F e Ge Se 17 n e In non-orthogonal grids, the deferred correction term may contain the difference between the gradient in the n and j direction. Then the F d becomes: e

37

EC 29,1
where:

Fd e

"      #m21 f f f Ge S e Ge S e 2 j e n e j e   f gradfe i j ; j e

18

38

  f gradfe n; n e

and ij is the unit vector in the j direction. The over bar denotes the linear approximation. So the nal form of the diffusive term is: F d Ge S e e

fE 2 fP Ge S e gradfe m21 n 2 ij LP;E

19

(4) Approximation of the source term. By using midpoint rule approximation method, the source term is discreted into: Z bf b dV < bP DV 20 P
V

where, DV is the CV and can be calculated by Gauss theorem. By using the identity 1 div(xi ), the volume can be calculated as: Z Z Z X dV divxi dV xi ndS < x S x c e; w; n; s; t; b 21 DV c c c
V V S

where, c denotes the cell faces, and S x is the x-component of the vector of the cell faces, i c is the unit component of the Cartesian coordinates. 3. Key technologies 3.1 Implementation of friction boundary condition In aluminum alloy prole extrusion processes, the implementation of the boundary condition is very important. Non-orthogonal grids make boundary condition implementations on the complex or curvilinear boundary easier and more reasonable, as shown in Figure 4. B is the point on the boundary, while point P is the inner node of the boundary. For plastic deformation of the metal, rigid slip boundary condition is ordinarily applied. The velocity component vertical to the boundary is set to zero, while the other two components tangent to the boundary are not zero, their joint direction is assumed to be the direction t. The tangential velocity component is uBt, which is not equal to zero. uPt is tangential velocity component on the inner point P, which is calculated by inner momentum equation. The constant friction law is engaged:

t B mB

uBt uBt 2 uPt mB fks n jr B 2 r P j

22

where, mB is the dynamic viscosity at the boundary, rP and rB are the coordinate vectors of the points P and B, respectively. f is the friction factor, ks is the yield shear stress. uBt can be extracted from equation (22) and prescribed as a boundary condition of Dirichlet type:

uP

uPt
uPn P rp

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

uBt
n

39

LPB

rB

Figure 4. The implement of the boundary on non-orthogonal grid

u Bt u Pt kF1 2 f 1l _

23

where the terms in McCauleys kl brackets is only active only for F . 0, that is, the function satises: ( kl; F . 0 : 0; F # 0 The function f 1 in equation (23) is expressed as follows: _ f 1 f _ ks Lpb mB ju pt j 24

where LPB is the distant between points P and B, as shown in Figure 4. 3.2 Volume-of-uid scheme on the non-orthogonal grid Volume-of-uid (VOF) scheme is used to catch the free surface of the owing metal. The function F whose value characterizes the volume fraction of liquid is dened and satises the transportation equation:

F 7Fu 0 t

25

Different values of the function F denote the different states of the cell. When F 1, the cell is full of liquid. When F 0, the cell is full of gas, when 0 # F # 1, the free surface exists in the cell. Since F is a step function, the donor-acceptor method by Hirt and Nichols (1981) is used to preserve its discontinuous nature. The key technology for F calculation is to get the metal ux dF through the CV face on every time step. The calculation cause is similar with the orthogonal grid and can be found in the relevant papers of Lou et al. (2008). But on non-orthogonal grid, it is necessary to calculate the contravariant

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velocity un to calculate the ux dF. The calculation on the east face of an FVM cell, Se, is taken as an example, as shown in Figure 5. uen is the contravariant velocity on the centre point e. uet and ues are the other two components. u, g and b denote the angles between the normal vector n and the dimension components x, y and z, respectively. The contravariant velocity uen can be expressed as follows: X 26 uen ue nx ve ny we nz uie nie ; i x; y; z
i

where: Sx Sy Sz e ; ny cos g e ; nz cos b e Se Se Se S x , S y and S z can be calculated by equation (9), so the values of nx, ny and nz can be e e e obtained. Because the points e and e0 do not necessary coincide, ui in equation (26) can be expressed by: nx cos u ui;e ui;e0 gradui e0 r e 2 r e0 27

where, ui,e0 can be interpolated by the nodes on either sides of the east surface Se: ui;e0 L e0 E LPe0 ui;P ui;E LPE LPE 28

Here, Le0 E, LPe0 and LPE denote the distances of e0 and E, e0 and P, P and E, respectively. So the normal ux dFe on the east surface Se can be calculated by the following equation: dF e ruen S e 29 4. The case To prove the feasibility of the FVM model for aluminum alloy prole extrusion on non-orthogonal grid in this paper, a typical hot extrusion process with a-shaped cross-section is calculated. The results are analyzed and compared with the ones

b g z rp O x P

uet P' e e' Se

ues

uen

E' ne E Node Auxiliary Node

Figure 5. The calculation of the contravariant velocity

simulated by FEM software Deform-3D using the same parameters and a corresponding experiment. The shape and the dimension of the extrudates cross-section are shown in Figure 6. The material is AA-6061. The material parameters are cited from the book of Thomsen et al. (1969) and the FEM software Deform-3D. The density is 2,690 kg/m3, the thermal conductive is 180 W/(mK). The extrusion ratio is 3. The dimension of the billet is 44 mm f60 mm. The ram speed is 10 mm/s. The initial temperatures of the billet and the die are 500 and, 4008C, respectively. The heat transfer coefcient between the aluminum alloy and the die is 6,000 W/(m2K). The initial load is 147 KN. The friction coefcient is selected as 0.1. In the present model, the ow stress is a function of the effective strain and effective strain rate, and expressed as s G1 n 1 n G0 . The constant G is 70 Mpa, strain   _  exponent n is 0, strain rate exponent m is 0.183, and the constant G0 is 0. To analyze comprehensively the distribution of the variables in the extrude, the variable distribution on the cross-section M-M and N-N would be brought forth, as shown in Figure 6. The ow eld of the aluminum is discreted using non-orthogonal structured grids, as shown in Figure 7. The number of the FVM element is 5,248. Because the metal near the bearing is more concerned in the real production, mesh renement is implemented there. Local mesh renement can ensure not only the accuracy, but also the efciency of the calculation. 4.1 Comparison with the results by Deform-3D Figure 8(a) and (b) shows the equivalent strain rate distributions on the cross-section N-N when t is equal to 0.17 s simulated by the FVM model and Deform-3D, respectively.
13.5 R16 N Billet M M Die N 24 Bearing Puch

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

41

Figure 6. The die and the dimension of the extrudate with a-shaped cross-section

z y

Figure 7. The non-orthogonal grids of the extrudate with a-shaped cross-section

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It can be seen that the distribution trends of the equivalent strain rate simulated by these two methods are nearly the same. The maximum values appear at the sharp corner near the outlet, and the value differences between the results simulated by these two methods are relatively small. The values of the equivalent strain rate are not large because the extrusion ratio is pretty small. And even though the extrusion ratio of this case is not large, the equivalent strain rate concentration trend simulated by FEM is more obvious than the one by FVM model. The equivalent strain rate distributions on the cross-section N-N at the time t 0.3 s simulated by the FVM model and Deform-3D are shown in Figure 9(a) and (b). The values and the distributions of the equivalent strain rate simulated by these two methods are also nearly the same. But as the extrusion goes on, the equivalent strain rate concentrates increasingly. Figure 10(a) and (b) shows the equivalent stress
N
1
1

N
3
1

N 1:1.122 2:2.332 3:3.404 4:5.000

3
2

A N

B A

D C

B A

Figure 8. The equivalent strain rate in cross-section N-N (1/s), t 0.17 s

2 (a) by the FVB model

A:1.11 B:2.22 C:3.33 D:4.44 E:5.56 (b) by Deform-3D

D C B A

B C 3
1

2 1
1

M A:0.889 B:1.78 C:2.07 D:3.56 E:4.44

MA B

B A A

Figure 9. The equivalent strain rate in the cross-section M-M (1/s), t 0.3 s

1:1.020 2:2.011 3:3.131 4:4.106

(a) by the FVB model

(b) by Deform-3D

N
9

9
8 7

N
9

E
7

G F

F F E D

10

N 5: 10 6: 18 7: 26 8: 34 9: 42 10: 50

6 6
5

Figure 10. The equivalent stress in the cross-section N-N (MPa), t 0.3 s

N B:6.22 C:12.4 D:18.7 E:24.9 F:31.1 G:37.3

C (b) by Deform-3D

(a) by the FVM model

distributions on the cross-section N-N simulated by the FVM model and Deform-3D at the time t 0.3 s. The distributions and values of the stress by the two methods also coincide well with each other. The equivalent stress distributions simulated y Deform-3D concentrate more severely at the corner near the outlet. This is because of the continuous remeshing and the subsequent mesh distortion in the FEM simulation. The equivalent strain distributions show the same trends. Figure 11(a) and (b) is the equivalent strain distribution simulated by the FVM model and the FEM software Deform-3D at the time t 0.3 s. Through the comparison and analysis, it can be seen that the FVM model on non-orthogonal structured grid is accurate and reliable. For complex aluminum alloy prole extrusion processes, the numerical simulation or analysis efciency is much important. When the extrusion proceeded to t 0.3 s, about 30 min of simulation time were needed for the FVM in the present paper, while about 40 min for the FEM. With the extrusion going on, the FEM simulation became slower and slower and the remeshing occurred more and more frequently. While the FVM simulation speed did not change nearly. From the comparison, it could be seen that the FVM has a good potential in the numerical simulation of complex prole extrusion processes with severe and large deformation. 4.2 Comparison with the experiment To approve the reliability of the FVM model further, the results are compared with the corresponding experiments using the same parameters as the FVM and FEM simulation above. In the aluminum prole extrusion experiments, the cylindrical billets were all subdivided by their axial cross-sections, and were meshed with squares by using viscoplasticity technology demonstrated by Ceretti et al. (1997). To observe the metal ow trends on cross-sections M-M and N-N during the extrusion experiments, the corresponding positions on the die were marked as M0 -M0 and N0 -N0 , as shown in Figure 12. The axial cross-sections of the billets were aligned with the marked lines M0 -M0 or N0 -N0 . When the extrusion proceeded to the predened ram distance, the extrusion was stopped and the extrude was taken out. Thus, the changes of the meshes on cross-section M-M or N-N could be viewed, revealing the metal ow trend at the time. The experimental results are analyzed and compared with the results of the FVM model. Figure 13(a) and (b) shows the extruded heads by the FVM model and the experiment for the same ram distance L 5.11 mm, respectively. It can be seen that
N
4
5

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

43

1 6

N
4 2

6
3

N 1:0.20 2:0.56 3:0.91 4:1.27 5:1.62 6:1.98

5 3

E D B

C B

E D C B

2
1

N A:0.15 B:0.61 C:0.97 D:1.35 E:1.70

(a) by the FVM model

(b) by Deform-3D

Figure 11. The equivalent strain in the cross-section N-N, t 0.3 s

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N' M'

M' N'

Figure 12. Signed lines M0 -M0 and N0 -N0 on the die in the experiment

Figure 13. The extrudate for the ram displacement L 5.11 mm

(a) by the FVM model

(b) by the experiment

the length and the shape of the head are almost the same. The metal at the axis of the extrude ows faster than that away from the axis side because of the friction force. The head prominent in the experiment is bigger than that simulated by the FVM model. It can be attributed to the minor friction coefcient difference between the simulation and the experiment. In order to see the metal ow rule more clearly, the velocity on the cross-sections M-M and N-N are observed and compared. Figure 14(a) is the velocity distributions on cross-section N-N simulated by the FVM model for the ram distance L 5.11 mm. While the change of the portrayed meshes on cross-section N-N, at the same time, is shown in Figure 14(b). It can be observed from Figure 14 (a) that the velocity vectors near the axis are the largest. In the experiment, the horizontal grids at this region are the most prominent, as shown in Figure 14(b). It means that the metal in this area ows more quickly. Figure 15 shows the streamline corresponding to Figure 14(a). The agreements between the simulation and the experiment can be revealed more obvious by the streamline of the experiment in Figure 15.

Aluminum alloy prole extrusion

45
Figure 14. Metal ow on the cross-section N-N for the ram displacement L 5.11 mm

(a) the velocity by the FVM model

(b) the mesh changes in the experiment

Figure 15. The simulated streamline on the cross-section N-N for the ram displacement L 5.11 mm

Figure 16(a) shows the simulated velocity on the cross-section M-M for the ram distance L 5.11 mm. Figure 16(b) shows the meshes in the experiment on the cross-section M-M at the same time. The comparisons of Figure 16(a) with (b) show that both results are in good agreements. In addition, from Figure 16(a) and (b), it can be seen that the metal at the corner outside the outlet almost does not move. This area is the dead zone. The simulation results shown in Figures 14(a) and 16(a) also show that the velocity in this zone is near to zero. It can be further concluded that the accuracy of the FVM model base on non-orthogonal structured grid proposed in this paper is acceptable and feasible. Figure 17 shows the load versus the ram displacement got in the experiment and simulated by the FVM model. In the experiment, the initial extrusion load is 153 KN. The maximum load reaches to about 180 KN. It happens at the time just before the alloy owed out of the outlet. The trends and the values agree with the results by the FVM model.

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Figure 16. Metal ow on the cross-section M-M for the ram displacement L 5.11 mm

(a) the velocity by the FVM model

(b) the mesh changes in the experiment

180 Extrusion Load (KN) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 Punch Displacement (mm) Simulation Experiment 5 6

Figure 17. The load versus the ram displacement got in the experiment and simulated by the FVM model

5. Conclusion In this paper, block-structured grid was used to t the curved or relatively complex metal ow region during the aluminum prole extrusion. The key technologies of the aluminum prole extrusion using FVM on three-dimensional non-orthogonal structured grids are studied. The free surface capturing method, VOF scheme, was implemented successfully. The friction boundary condition on the non-orthogonal grids was also carried out. The non-orthogonality of the grid is adequately considered to ensure the accuracy of the simulation. The accuracy of the FVM model was approved by a typical aluminum prole extrusion process which was analyzed and compared by the results got by FEM software Deform-3D and the experiments. From the comparison and analysis, it can be seen that the FVM model built in this paper is timesaving and reliable because it can avoid frequent remeshing and mesh distortion. And FVM has good potential in the numerical simulation of complex prole extrusion processes with severe and large deformation.
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Aukrust, T. (1997), Coupled FEM and texture modelling of plane strain extrusion of an aluminium alloy, Int. J. Plasticity, Vol. 13 Nos 1/2, pp. 111-25. Ceretti, E., Taupin, E. and Altan, T. (1997), Simulation of metal ow and fracture applications in orthogonal cutting, blanking, and cold extrusion, CIRP Ann., Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 187-90. Faghri, M., Sparrow, E.M. and Prata, A.T. (1984), Finite difference solutions of convection-diffusion problems in irregular domain, using a non-orthogonal coordinate transformation, Numer. Heat Transfer, Vol. 7, pp. 183-209. Ferziger, J.H. and Peric, M. (2002), Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics, Springer, Berlin, pp. 230-9. Hirt, C.W. and Nichols, B.D. (1981), Volume of uid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries, J. Comput. Phys., Vol. 39, pp. 201-25. Krause, F.-L., Kimura, F. and Kjellberg, T. (2004), Product modelling with FEM simulations, ET Seminar, Vol. 2, pp. 695-706. Lof, J. and Blockhuis, Y. (2002), FEM simulations of the extrusion of the complex thin walled aluminium sections, J. Mater. Process. Tech., Vol. 122, pp. 344-54. Lou, S.M., Zhao, G.Q. and Wang, R. (2008), Modelling and application of aluminum alloy prole extrusion processes simulations using nite volume method, J. Mater. Process. Tech., Vol. 206 Nos 1/3, pp. 481-90. Thompson, J.F. (1980), Numerical solution of ow problem using body-tted coordinate system, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Hemisphere, New York, NY, pp. 1-98. Thomsen, E.G., Yang, C.T. and Kobayashi, S. (1969), Mechanics of Plastic Deformation in Metal Processing, Macmillan, New York, NY, pp. 15-25. Zhou, F. and Su, D. (2003), FEM and FVM compound numerical simulation of aluminum extrusion processes, Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 381-5. Zhou, J., Li, L. and Duszczyk, J. (2003), 3D FEM simulation of the whole cycle of aluminium extrusion throughout the transient state and the steady state using the updated Lagrangian approach, J. Mater. Process. Tech., Vol. 134 No. 3, pp. 383-97. Corresponding author Shumei Lou can be contacted at: msl7119@163.com

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