Optimal Blank Design for the Drawings of Arbitrary Shapes by the Sensitivity Method

Abstract

The sensitivity method is employed in this work in order to find initial blank shapes which result in desired shapes after deformation. By assuming the final deformation shape be the drawn cup with uniform trimming allowance at the flange, the corresponding initial blank which gives the desired final shape after deformation has been found. With the aid of a well-known dynamic explicit analysis code PAM-STAMP, shape sensitivity has been obtained. To get the shape sensitivity numerically, a couple of deformation processes have been analyzed. Drawings of trapezoidal cup, oil pan, and Audi front door panel, the benchmark test problem of Numisheet ’99, have been chosen as the examples. In every case the optimal blank shape has been obtained after only a few modifications without a predetermined deformation path. With the predicted optimal blank, both computer simulation and experiment are performed. Excellent agreements are obtained between simulation and experiment in every case. Through this investigation, the sensitivity method is found to be very effective in the design of arbitrary shaped drawing processes.