A voronoi-based nodal integrated FEM simulation of extrusion process

The finite element method was successfully applied for the simulation of several forming processes. However, it does not represent an absolute reference point because of the high transformations in the computational domain in some real processes. These induce a significant worsening of the results caused by the mesh distortions. The use of remeshing techniques both increases the computational time and the additional errors. Nodal integration is a technique that introduces an improvement of the convergence when applied to constant strain elements. Thus, it enhances the behavior in the acute bending problems and reduces the volumetric locking phenomenon. The main point of strength of the proposed approach is to allow FEM to provide reliable results also with distorted meshes. Consequently, constant strain elements are competitive also if compared to high-order elements since remeshing step can be avoided. In the paper some fundamental aspects of the proposed method are presented; subsequently, the results of the sim ulation of a representative forming process are compared to the ones obtained by means of a robust commercial FEM code, assumed as reference in the analysis. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.