Gravity loading phase of a deep drawing manufacturing simulation including effects of sheet metal blank in contact with guide pins

A system for creating a computerized model for a deep draw manufacturing simulation of a sheet metal part, said system comprising:

• an input/output (I/O) interface;
• a memory for storing computer readable code for a finite element analysis (FEA) application module;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory, said at least one processor executing the computer readable code in the memory to cause the FEA application module to perform operations of:
• receiving a first FEA model representing a sheet metal blank and a second FEA model representing outer surface of guide pins, each of said first and second FEA models containing a plurality of nodes connected a plurality of finite elements, and a subset of the nodes of the first FEA model located along the sheet metal blank's perimeter being defined as a group of parent nodes;
• determining first and second characteristic lengths, the first characteristic length being distance between each neighboring pair of the parent nodes and the second characteristic length being shortest dimension of all of the finite elements of the second FEA model;
• creating at least N child nodes between said each pair of the parent nodes along an edge of corresponding finite element, N is a positive integer obtained by dividing the first characteristic length by the second characteristic length;
• and
• obtaining the sheet metal blank's deformed configuration under its own weight and subject to lateral constraints of the guide pins by conducting a computer simulation of the gravity loading phase of deep drawing manufacturing of a sheet metal part, the lateral constraints being created when a contact between a child node and a particular finite element of the second FEA model is detected, wherein the respective lateral constraints are added at said child node's parent nodes.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions for including effects of a sheet metal blank in contact with guide pins in gravity loading phase of a deep draw manufacturing simulation of a sheet metal part by a method comprising:

• receiving a first finite element analysis (FEA) model representing a sheet metal blank and a second FEA model representing outer surface of guide pins in a computer system having a FEA application module installed thereon, each of said first and second FEA models containing a plurality of nodes connected a plurality of finite elements, and a subset of the nodes of the first FEA model located along the sheet metal blank's perimeter being defined as a group of parent nodes;
• determining first and second characteristic lengths, the first characteristic length being distance between each neighboring pair of the parent nodes and the second characteristic length being shortest dimension of all of the finite elements of the second FEA model;
• creating at least N child nodes between said each pair of the parent nodes along an edge of corresponding finite element, N is a positive integer obtained by dividing the first characteristic length by the second characteristic length;
• and
• obtaining the sheet metal blank's deformed configuration under its own weight and subject to lateral constraints of the guide pins by conducting a computer simulation of the gravity loading phase of deep drawing manufacturing of a sheet metal part, the lateral constraints being created when a contact between a child node and a particular finite element of the second FEA model is detected, wherein the respective lateral constraints are added at said child node's parent nodes.