FEM Simulation of Large Diameter Pipe Bending Using Local Heating

With the aid of elastic-plastic large deformation finite element method (FEM), an elastic-plastic and coupling thermo-mechanical model was built to calculate the bending process of the bent pipe, combining with local heating or cooling of the bent pipe. Based on the FEM simulation, the metal deformation during the bending process was analyzed in detail. The thinning and thickening ratio of the pipe wall thickness, the ovality of the cross-section of the pipe and the spring-back angle, etc., are presented.