Numerical study of non-kinematical conical bending with cylindrical rolls

Although desired cones can be manufactured by kinematical conical roll bending, less manufacturing cost is still largely required. This paper presents the modelling and simulation of non-kinematical conical roll bending process with cylindrical rolls. Such process is achieved by using attachments to reduce the velocity on the area close to the top edge of the plate. In contrast with a kinematical conical roll bending machine, the driving outer rolls of a non-kinematical conical roll bending machine are allowed to slide on the plate close to the top edge. The modelling is based on finite element method under ANSYS/LS-DYNA environment. The bent cones obtained from numerical simulations compare well with the desired cones. Numerical simulation investigations show that the adaptive capacity of the model is available within a range of the top-bottom radius ratio of the desired cones between 0.44 and 0.8. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.