Adaptive tetrahedral element generation and refinement to improve the quality of bulk metal forming simulation

A die and workpiece geometry considered tetrahedral element generation technique for automatic metal forming simulation with high quality is presented in this paper. A recursive edge-based subdivision method is employed to modify the triangular elements on the workpiece surface by considering the characteristic lines of the dies over the workpiece–die contacting region. The modified triangular elements are modified again to give the optimal input geometry for adaptive tetrahedral elements generation, which conforms to the die and workpiece geometries as well as the state variables of the workpiece. The presented approach is successfully applied to optimal remeshing in bulk metal forming simulation.