Hydroforming Simulation of a Structural Member with Experimental Verification

A persistent problem with computer simulations of forming processes is a general lack of experimental verification. A project was undertaken to simulate the two-stage, aluminum tube hydroforming of a structural tee shape, and perform simultaneous experiments for comparison. The simulations, performed with the code LS-DYNA, were used to establish the initial process parameters and also to predict the shape and thickness profile of the final part. The simulations compared favorably to the experiments, and the results are presented.