Experimental and Numerical investigation of multi step Roll-bending process of IPB type beams

In this paper the multi-step roll-bending process of IPB type beams is investigated. For this purpose, simple and light weighted equipment with easy transportation has been designed and constructed. The results show that the product of this equipment is completely acceptable compared to pure rolling process while its cost and transportation is much less than massive rolling machine. The entire forming process has been also simulated by Finite Element Method using ABAQUS V.6.10.1 software. The simulated results indicate that the beam buckles during the forming process. Noteworthy is that the buckling mode and the maximum deflection value obtained from FEM are in very good agreement with experimental results. Therefore, suggested methods in order to solve the problem have been studied numerically by Finite Element Analysis instead of costly experimental study.