Towards Optimum Plate Shapes: Modeling and Simulation of the Transient Material Flow During Heavy Plate Hot Rolling
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Essential geometrical, strength, toughness, and surface properties of a heavy plate are closely associated with its production process, especially hot rolling, consisting of lengthening and optional widening. Precise guidance and control of temperature and deformation are crucial for achieving the desired strength and toughness specifications. Maintaining consistent product quality necessitates monitoring of process variables and product properties, challenges for which models at various levels are indispensable. The modular 3D finite element (FE) model presented here may serve as an advanced example of an appropriate modeling framework for heavy plates. However, the approach's comprehensiveness is accompanied by high computational costs. They can be mitigated (i) by defining process-specific virtual process routes, which are used to effectively exploit existing symmetries depending on the process state [1], and (ii) by adjusting the plate mesh before a pass to prevent excessive mesh distortion, creating a smooth mesh even in highly deformed zones, which positively impacts the critical time step in the explicit time integration of the FE model. This adjustment breaks the mesh's direct connection to the underlying material, making it impossible to investigate the evolution of a material point's position and its state variables without intervention. Therefore, at the outset of the simulation, a reference configuration is established that has to be adapted accordingly as far as an artificial adjustment of the actual mesh is carried out. The shape functions used to interpolate and track the temperature and flow of material points are adjusted as well. Thus, crop formation can be simulated and analyzed. To avoid excessive crop losses, associated trimming, and material waste, techniques like Mizushima's automatic plan view pattern control system (MAS) [2] are widely used in industrial heavy plate rolling processes. Using this technique, the roll gap adjustment varies along the width direction during widening passes. The developed 3D thermo-mechanical model covers various essential aspects, such as radiation, even at side surfaces, and plate turning operations, and serves to verify faster process models. As an example, the model’s ability to analyze and visualize the material flow under realistic, i.e., transient conditions is shown to better understand and enhance well-established control strategies aiming at material savings and sustainability, like MAS.
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