ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 47 (2005) 18381853

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Simulation of Mannesmann piercing process by the

three-dimensional rigid-plastic nite-element method
Kazutake Komori
Department of Computer Mechanical System Engineering, Daido Institute of Technology,
10-3 Takiharu-town, Minami-ward, Nagoya-city, Aichi-prefecture 457-8530, Japan
Received 4 December 2004; received in revised form 8 June 2005; accepted 20 July 2005
Available online 31 August 2005

Abstract
Simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process is performed for the rst time by the three-dimensional
rigid-plastic nite-element method. Firstly, a method of analysis is proposed for the steady-state
formulation in the case that the sides of the nite elements cannot be made to coincide with the streamline
of the material ow. Secondly, the simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process is performed under the
variation of rolling conditions such as the feed angle, the minimum roll gap, the maximum plug diameter,
the plug advance and the guide shoe diameter, and the effects of the rolling conditions on various rolling
properties such as the outer diameter, the inner diameter, the roll force, the mandrel force, the equivalent
strain distribution and the equivalent strain rate distribution are demonstrated. Finally, the results of the
analysis are compared with the results of an experiment using Plasticine. The dimension in the rolling
condition of the experiment is scaled to one-third of the dimension in the rolling condition in an actual
Mannesmann piercing process. The analytical results agree with the experimental results and the validity of
the method of analysis is conrmed.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Metal forming; Pierce rolling; Three-dimensional analysis; Rigid-plastic FEM; Remeshing

Tel.: +81 52 612 6111; fax: +81 52 612 5623.

E-mail address: komori@daido-it.ac.jp.

0020-7403/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2005.07.009

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Nomenclature
dp
plug diameter
f x ; f y ; f z nodal force components
r
polar axis in polar coordinates
material velocity at entrance cross section in rolling direction
vB
material velocity at exit cross section in rolling direction
vF
vx ; vy ; vz material velocity components
Dv
velocity discontinuity between material and tool
x
coordinate axis in rolling direction
x coordinate of plug top
xp
y
coordinate axis in width direction
z
coordinate axis in thickness direction
F
functional
a
penalty coefcient

_
equivalent strain rate
volumetric strain rate

_v
y
polar angle in polar coordinates
s
equivalent stress
frictional stress between material and tool
tf
angular velocity at entrance cross section with respect to x axis
oB
angular velocity at exit cross section with respect to x axis
oF

1. Introduction
Pipes are divided into two types: welded pipes and seamless pipes. Welded pipes are produced by
bending and welding strips, whereas seamless pipes are produced by piercing bars. Since the reliability of
seamless pipes is higher than that of welded pipes, seamless pipes are widely utilized in the oil and gas
industries. Generally, seamless pipes are produced by the following three types of rolling. First, thick
pipes are produced from bars by pierce rolling. Next, thin pipes are produced from the thick pipes by
elongation rolling. Finally, seamless pipes, which are nal products are produced from the thin pipes by
reduction rolling. Numerous experimental and analytical studies on seamless pipes have been performed.
Pierce rolling is the rst rolling performed in the production of seamless pipes. There are three
types of piercing: press roll piercing [13], barrel-type rotary piercing [412], and corn-type rotary
piercing [13,14]. The cross-sectional shape of the material has line symmetry in press roll piercing,
while it has point symmetry in barrel-type rotary piercing and corn-type rotary piercing. The
barrel-type rotary piercing is known as Mannesmann piercing, in which the shape of the roll is a
barrel, whereas it is corn-shaped in corn-type rotary piercing. The simulation of the Mannesmann
piercing process has been performed by the two-dimensional nite-element method (FEM)
[1012]. However, the simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process by the three-dimensional
FEM is required, since an experimental result obtained using Plasticine [4] has shown that the
material deforms highly heterogeneously in the Mannesmann piercing process.

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K. Komori / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 47 (2005) 18381853

The steady-state formulation [15,16] and the non-steady-state formulation are used to simulate
the steady-state deformation of materials in a three-dimensional rolling process. Since the
computation time in the analysis using the steady-state formulation is much shorter than that in
the analysis using the non-steady-state formulation, the steady-state formulation is extensively
used. In this formulation, the material shape is made to coincide with the streamline of the
material ow. In the nite-element analysis, the sides of the nite elements are made to coincide
with the streamline of the material ow for convenience [17,18]. However, in the Mannesmann
piercing process, the material is rotated several times around the longitudinal axis of the material.
Hence the shape of the nite elements becomes extremely distorted when the sides of the nite
elements are made to coincide with the streamline of the material ow. Therefore, although the
material shape is made to coincide with the streamline of the material ow, the sides of the nite
elements should not be made to coincide, so that the shape of the nite elements does not distort.
In the present study, rstly, the method of analysis is proposed for the steady-state formulation
in the case that the sides of the nite elements cannot be made to coincide with the streamline of
the material ow. Secondly, the simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process is performed.
The analytical results are compared with the experimental results, the effects of the rolling
conditions on rolling properties are demonstrated, and the validity of the method of analysis is
conrmed.

2. Method of analysis
2.1. Outline
Fig. 1 shows the owchart for the entire analysis.
(1) The material shape and the angular velocity of the plug are assumed.
(2) The deformation of the material is analyzed by means of the three-dimensional rigid-plastic
nite-element method.
(3) The material shape is modied so that the sides of the nite elements coincide with the
streamline of the material ow.
(4) The remeshing of the material is performed so that the shape of the nite elements does not
distort.
(5) When the amount of modication of the material shape is not negligible, procedures (2)(4)
are repeated.
(6) When the calculated torque of the plug is not negligible, the angular velocity of the plug is
modied and procedures (1)(5) are repeated.
The details of each procedure are explained in the following sections.
2.2. Analysis of deformation
Fig. 2 shows the coordinate system in the Mannesmann piercing process. The material is
surrounded by thick lines and the section of the material is hatched by thin lines. The material is

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Start

Assumption of material shape

and angular velocity of plug

Analysis of deformation

Modification of material shape

Remeshing of material

No
Amount of modification is small ?
Modification of
angular velocity of plug

Yes

No

Calculated torque of plug is small ?

Yes
End

Fig. 1. Flowchart for entire analysis.

rolled between the upper roll and the lower roll, is pierced by the plug, which is supported by the
mandrel, and is guided by the guide shoe. The coordinate axes in the rolling direction, the width
direction and the thickness direction are x, y and z, respectively. The origin is set at the center of
the roll gap.
The distance between the upper roll and the lower roll becomes a minimum on the z axis. Hence
the minimum roll gap is dened on the z axis. In the xy-plane gure, the angle between the x axis
and the axis of the roll is dened as the feed angle, while the angle between the crest line of the roll
and the axis of the roll is dened as the face angle. The plug advance is dened as the opposite of
the x-coordinate of the plug top. Although only one half of the material should be analyzed
because of its point symmetry, the whole material is analyzed for convenience.
The conventional three-dimensional rigid-plastic FEM [19] is used, in which the functional F
dened below is minimized. The incompressibility condition is satised by the penalty method.
Constant shear friction between the material and the tool is assumed,
Z
Z
Z
_

_2v dV .
(1)
s
dV tf Dv dS a
F
V

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Fig. 2. Coordinate system in Mannesmann piercing process.

Here, s is the equivalent stress,
_ is the equivalent strain rate, tf is the frictional stress between
the material and the tool, Dv is the velocity discontinuity between the material and the tool, a is
the penalty coefcient and
_v is the volumetric strain rate. The linear element in the form of a
rectangular prism is used. In each element, the deviatoric strain rate is integrated at 2
2
2
points, whereas the volumetric strain rate is integrated at 1
1
1 point.
At the entrance cross section, the following material velocity components are assumed:
vx vB ,

p
y2 z2 cos arctan y=z,
p
vz  oB y2 z2 sin arctan y=z,

vy oB

where vB denotes the material velocity at the entrance cross section in the rolling direction and oB
denotes the angular velocity at the entrance cross section with respect to the x-axis.

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Similarly, at the exit cross section, the following material velocity components are assumed:
vx vF ,

p
y2 z2 cos arctan y=z,
p
vz  oF y2 z2 sin arctan y=z,

vy oF

where vF denotes the material velocity at the exit cross section in the rolling direction and oF
denotes the angular velocity at the exit cross section with respect to the x-axis.vB , oB , vF and oF
are unknown variables and are optimized in the process of minimizing the functional F. Since
Eqs. (2) and (3) are assumed, the following equations with respect to the nodal force components
are satised when the functional F is minimized:
X
X
f x 0;
zf y  yf z 0,
(4)
entrance cross section

f x 0;

exit cross section

entrance cross section

zf y  yf z 0.

(5)

exit cross section

Eq. (4) indicates that the total force in the rolling direction and the total moment with respect to
the x-axis are both equal to zero at the entrance cross section. Eq. (5) indicates that the total force
in the rolling direction and the total moment with respect to the x-axis are both equal to zero at
the exit cross section.
The shape of the materialtool contact surface is complicated in the Mannesmann piercing
process. Hence, to calculate the area of the materialtool contact surface precisely, the area of the
materialtool contact surface in an element on the material surface is assumed to be proportional
to the number of nodes, which contact the tool in the element on the material surface. The number
of nodes of a linear rectangular element is four. Hence, for example, when three nodes in a linear
rectangular element on the material surface contact the tool, three quarters of the area of this
element is assumed to make contact.
Although the material does not fracture at the top of the plug in the press roll piercing process
[1], the material fractures at the top of the plug in the Mannesmann piercing process [6]. Hence the
material at the top of the plug is assumed to slip on the plug.
2.3. Modification of material shape
The streamline of the material ow is calculated for the particles which are located on the nodes
at the entrance cross section. The differential equation for the streamline of the material ow [20]
is given as
dx dy dz

.
vx
vy
vz

(6)

The material shape is modied such that the sides of the nite elements coincide with the
streamline of the material ow.
A node, which is on the material surface but does not contact the tool is considered. When the
streamline of the material ow for the node penetrates the tool, the node is assumed to contact the
tool. A node, which is on the material surface and does contact the tool is also considered. When

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the streamline of the material ow for the node does not contact the tool or the nodal force
normal to the tool surface becomes tensile, the node is assumed to separate from the tool.
2.4. Remeshing of material
The material rotates several times around the x-axis in the Mannesmann piercing process.
Hence the shape of the nite elements distorts to an extreme degree when the sides of the nite
elements are made to coincide with the streamline of the material ow. Therefore, the remeshing
of the material is performed. In other words, although the material shape coincides with the
streamline of the material ow, the sides of the nite elements are not made to coincide with the
streamline of the material ow, and thus the shape of the nite elements does not distort.
Fig. 3 shows the shape of the material surface of a cross section. The dotted, broken, and solid
lines denote the shape of the material surface used in the analysis of deformation, that before the
material remeshing, and that after the material remeshing, respectively, and the black, white and
solid circles denote the corresponding nodes.
The polar coordinates of the node after the remeshing of the material r; y are calculated using
the polar coordinates of the two neighboring nodes before the remeshing of the material r1 ; y1 ,
r2 ; y2 . Here, y does not change upon remeshing,
r

y2  y
y  y1
r1
r2 .
y2  y1
y2  y1

(7)

When the amount of the modication of the material shape is large, in other words, when the
number of nodes, which contact the tool changes signicantly, the material shape does not
converge. In the conventional elasticplastic nite-element analysis, the rmin method [21] is used to
z
analysis of deformation
before remeshing
r1

after remeshing
r
r2

1
y
0

Fig. 3. Shape of material surface of cross section.

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yield only one element in each step. Hence, in this study, we propose to apply the rmin method to
control the amount of modication of the material shape.
Even though the amount of this modication is equal to zero, when the nodal force normal to
the tool surface becomes tensile, the node is assumed to separate from the tool. Hence in our
proposed method, the amount of material shape modication is controlled such that one node is
made to contact the tool while zero nodes are made to separate from the tool, or one node is made
to separate from the tool while zero nodes are made to contact the tool. Here, the nodes the forces
of which normal to the tool surface become tensile are excluded.

3. Analytical results
3.1. Standard rolling conditions
Table 1 shows the standard rolling conditions. The standard rolling conditions are made to
coincide with those of the experiment using Plasticine [4] to compare the analytical results with the
experimental results. The dimension in the rolling conditions of the experiment was scaled to onethird of the dimension in the rolling conditions in an actual Mannesmann piercing process. Since
the stressstrain relationship of Plasticine is not measured in the experiment, the stressstrain
relationship for a rigid-perfectly plastic material is assumed, in other words, the stress is assumed
to be 10 MPa regardless of the strain.
The friction between the material and the tool is assumed to obey the constant shear stress
friction. The friction factor between the material and the roll and that between the material and
the plug are assumed to be one, in other words, sticking friction is assumed. On the other hand,
the friction factor between the material and the guide shoe is assumed to be zero, the reason for
which is described later. The appropriate friction factor between the material and the guide shoe
should be claried in the future. Fig. 4 shows the effect of the ow stress ratio and the friction

Table 1
Standard rolling conditions
Initial material diameter (mm)
Minimum roll gap (mm)
Distance between axes of two rolls (mm)
Maximum plug diameter (mm)
Plug advance (mm)
Guide shoe diameter (mm)
Feed angle (deg)
Entrance face angle (deg)
Exit face angle (deg)
Friction factor between material and roll
Friction factor between material and plug
Friction factor between material and guide shoe
Roll velocity (m/s)

45
38
330
33
25
47
9
3.5
3
1
1
0
5

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50

40

40
Diameters (mm)

Diameters (mm)

1846

30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20

Inner diameter (exp.)

10

Outer diameter (anal.)

30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20

Inner diameter (exp.)

10

Outer diameter (anal.)

Inner diameter (anal.)

Inner diameter (anal.)

0
1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

0
0. 0

3.5

Surface flow stress / Nonsurface flow stress

(a)

0.1

0. 2

0.3

0. 4

Guide shoe friction factor / Roll friction factor

(b)

Fig. 4. Effect of ow stress ratio and friction factor ratio on outer and inner diameters: (a) effect of ow stress ratio, (b)
effect of friction factor ratio.

factor ratio on the outer and inner diameters. The denitions of the outer and inner diameters are
described in a later section.
In the experiment, Plasticine had been kept at 20 1C for a long period, and then it was placed in
a container at 30 1C for 1 min prior to the experiment in order to harden the Plasticine surface to
approximate the material deformation in the experiment to the material deformation in an actual
Mannesmann piercing process using hot steel. Hence the ratio of the ow stress of the surface
of the material to the ow stress of the nonsurface of the material should be greater than one.
Fig. 4(a) shows the effect of the ow stress ratio. The hardened region of the material is considered
to be negligibly thin. The friction factor between the material and the roll is assumed to be one.
Hence, for convenience, the friction factor between the material and the roll is made to coincide
with the ow stress ratio. When the ow stress ratio is equal to 1.5, the material in the roll gap
does not move in the rolling direction due to the lack of the friction force between the material
and the roll. Hence the ow stress ratio is assumed to be two. With increasing the ow stress ratio,
both outer and inner diameters decrease.
The friction factor between the material and the guide shoe is expected to be one. However,
when the friction factor is assumed to be one, the material in the roll gap does not move in the
rolling direction due to the lack of the friction force between the material and the roll. Hence, the
ratio of the friction factor between the material and the guide shoe to the friction factor between
the material and the roll should be smaller than one; it is assumed to be zero for convenience.
Fig. 4(b) shows the effect of the friction factor ratio. When the friction factor ratio is equal to 0.4,
the material in the roll gap does not move in the rolling direction. With increasing the friction
factor ratio, both outer and inner diameters decrease.
The roll velocity is dened in the case that the roll diameter is equal to the distance between the
axes of the two rolls. The plug diameter d p is a function of the x-coordinate and is expressed by
the following equation:
d p m 0:12m0:5

p 0:5
x  xp m ,

where xp denotes the x coordinate of the plug top.

(8)

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Fig. 5. Finite-element meshes used in analysis of standard rolling conditions: (a) initial nite-element mesh, (b) nal
nite-element mesh.

Fig. 5 shows the nite-element meshes used in the analysis of the standard rolling conditions.
The material is divided into nite elements at the cross section perpendicular to the rolling
direction. The nite-element mesh in the cross section is derived from the mesh of concentric
circles. Fig. 5(a) shows the initial nite-element mesh. Since the material is not assumed to spread
initially, the guide shoe does not contact the material, while the whole surface of the plug contacts
the material. Fig. 5(b) shows the nal nite-element mesh. Since the material spreads in the
analysis, some surface area of both the guide shoe and the plug contact the material. The outer
diameter of the material is minimized in the roll gap, in other words, necking occurs, and the
necking was observed in the experiment.
The material rotates approximately 15 times around the x-axis, when the material moves from
the entrance cross section to the exit cross section. Hence, as is conventionally performed in the
nite-element analysis using the steady-state formulation, when the sides of the nite elements are
made to coincide with the streamline of the material ow, the shape of the nite elements distorts
extremely. Therefore, the validity of the proposed method for the remeshing of the material is
conrmed.
Fig. 6 shows the distributions in the analysis of the standard rolling conditions. Fig. 6(a) shows
the equivalent strain rate distribution. The equivalent strain rate is high near the material-roll
contact surface, and is extremely high where the material contacts the roll initially. Fig. 6(b) shows
the equivalent strain distribution. The equivalent strain is high near the outer surface of the
material, while it is low near the inner surface. At the exit cross section, the equivalent strain is
almost uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction; in other words, the equivalent strain
distributes almost axisymmetrically.
In the following sections, the rolling conditions are the standard rolling conditions except for
the rolling condition the effect of which is under investigation.
3.2. Effect of feed angle
Fig. 7 shows the effect of the feed angle on the diameters and the forces. Fig. 7(a) shows the
effect on the outer and inner diameters, which are the mean diameters in the circumferential

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12

40

10

30

Forces (kN)

Diameters (mm)

Fig. 6. Distributions in analysis of standard rolling conditions: (a) equivalent strain rate distribution (1/s), (b)
equivalent strain distribution.

Outer diameter (exp.)

20

Inner diameter (exp.)

4
2

Inner diameter (anal.)

(a)

Mandrel force (anal.)

Outer diameter (anal.)

10
0

Roll force (anal.)

7.5

10.5

Feed angle (degree)

12
(b)

7.5

10.5

12

Feed angle (degree)

Fig. 7. Effect of feed angle on diameters and forces: (a) outer and inner diameters, (b) roll force and mandrel force.

direction. In the experiment, the maximum and minimum outer diameters and the thickness of the
pipe were measured. However, since Plasticine is very soft, the reliability of the maximum and
minimum outer diameters is not necessarily high. Hence, to compare the analytical result with the
experimental result, the mean outer diameter is calculated from the maximum and minimum outer
diameters on the basis of the assumption that the outer shape of the cross section is oval. With
increasing the feed angle, the outer diameter calculated from the analysis and that obtained by the
experiment change negligibly, and the inner diameter calculated from the analysis increases
slightly while that obtained by the experiment changes negligibly. The analytical result agrees with
the experimental result. Fig. 7(b) shows the effect on the roll force and the mandrel force. With
increasing the feed angle, the roll force increases slightly, while the mandrel force increases. The
reason for the increase of the mandrel force is as follows. The mandrel force is equal to the
x-component of the friction force between the material and the roll. With increasing the feed
angle, the x-component of the friction force increases, since the x-component of the roll velocity
increases.
Fig. 8 shows the effect of the feed angle on the equivalent strain distribution. The equivalent
strain is high near the outer surface of the material and low near the inner surface. With increasing

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Fig. 8. Effect of feed angle on equivalent strain distribution: (a) 61, (b) 121.

50

16
14
12

30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20
10
0
36.0

(a)

Inner diameter (exp.)

Forces (kN)

Diameters (mm)

40

10
8
4

Inner diameter (anal.)

2
0
36.0
(b)

Mandrel force (anal.)

Outer diameter (anal.)

36.5
37.0
37.5 38.0
Minimum roll gap (mm)

Roll force (anal.)

36.5

37.0

37.5

38.0

Minimum roll gap (mm)

Fig. 9. Effect of minimum roll gap on diameters and forces: (a) outer and inner diameters, (b) roll force and mandrel
force.

the feed angle, the magnitude of the equivalent strain at the exit cross section decreases. The
reason for the decrease of the equivalent strain is as follows. With increasing the feed angle, the
contact length between the material and the roll in the rolling direction decreases and the
magnitude of the shearing strain in the cross section decreases.
3.3. Effect of minimum roll gap
Fig. 9 shows the effect of the minimum roll gap on the diameters and the forces. Fig. 9(a) shows
the effect on the outer and inner diameters. With increasing the minimum roll gap, the outer
diameter calculated from the analysis and that obtained by the experiment increase slightly, while
the inner diameter calculated from the analysis increases slightly and that obtained by the
experiment changes negligibly. The analytical result agrees with the experimental result. When the
minimum roll gap is equal to 39 mm, the experimental result was obtained. However, the
analytical result was not obtained, since the material in the roll gap does not move in the rolling
direction due to the lack of the friction force between the material and the roll. Fig. 9(b) shows the
effect on the roll force and the mandrel force. With increasing the minimum roll gap, the roll force

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decreases while the mandrel force changes negligibly. The reason for the decrease of the roll force
is that the contact area between the material and the roll decreases with increasing the minimum
roll gap.
3.4. Effect of maximum plug diameter
Fig. 10 shows the effect of the maximum plug diameter on the diameters and the forces. Fig.
10(a) shows the effect on the outer and inner diameters. With increasing the maximum plug
diameter, the outer diameter calculated from the analysis and that obtained by the experiment
increase, while the inner diameter calculated from the analysis and that obtained by the
experiment increase. The thickness of the pipe is calculated by subtracting the inner diameter from
the outer one. With increasing the maximum plug diameter, the thickness of the pipe calculated
from the analysis and that obtained by the experiment decrease. The analytical result agrees with
the experimental result. Fig. 10(b) shows the effect on the roll force and the mandrel force. With
increasing the maximum plug diameter, the roll force and the mandrel force decrease initially and
then nally increase.
Fig. 11 shows the effect of the maximum plug diameter on the strain rate and strain
distributions in the case that it is equal to 25 mm. On comparing Fig. 11 with Fig. 6, with
increasing the maximum plug diameter, the magnitude of the necking in the roll gap increases,
while the region where the material deforms plastically increases and the magnitude of the
equivalent strain at the exit cross section increases.
3.5. Effect of plug advance
Fig. 12 shows the effect of the plug advance on the diameters and the forces. Fig. 12(a) shows
the effect on the outer and inner diameters. With increasing the plug advance, the outer and inner
diameters calculated from the analysis decrease initially and then nally increase, while the outer
and inner diameters obtained by the experiment increase. Although the range of the plug advance
in the analysis differs from that in the experiment, the analytical result agrees with the
12

50

10
Forces (kN)

Diameters (mm)

40
30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20

Inner diameter (exp.)

Outer diameter (anal.)

10

8
Roll force (anal.)
6

Mandrel force (anal.)

4
2

Inner diameter (anal.)

0

0
25

(a)

27

29

31

Maximum plug diameter (mm)

33

25
(b)

27

29

31

33

Maximum plug diameter (mm)

Fig. 10. Effect of maximum plug diameter on diameters and forces: (a) outer and inner diameters, (b) roll force and
mandrel force.

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Fig. 11. Effect of maximum plug diameter on distributions: (a) equivalent strain rate distribution (1/s), (b) equivalent
strain distribution.

16

50

14
12
Forces (kN)

Diameters (mm)

40
30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20

Inner diameter (exp.)

10

Outer diameter (anal.)

(a)

10 15 20 25
Plug advance (mm)

8
6
4

Roll force (anal.)

Inner diameter (anal.)

0

10

30
(b)

Mandrel force (anal.)

0

10 15 20 25
Plug advance (mm)

30

Fig. 12. Effect of plug advance on diameters and forces: (a) outer and inner diameters, (b) roll force and mandrel force.

experimental result. Fig. 12(b) shows the effect on the roll force and the mandrel force. With
increasing the plug advance, the roll force decreases, while the mandrel force decreases slightly.
The reason for the decrease of the roll force is that the contact area between the material and the
roll decreases with increasing the plug advance.
3.6. Effect of guide shoe diameter
Fig. 13 shows the effect of the guide shoe diameter on the diameters and the forces. Fig. 13(a)
shows the effect on the outer and inner diameters. With increasing the guide shoe diameter, the
outer diameter calculated from the analysis and that obtained by the experiment change
negligibly, while the inner diameter calculated from the analysis changes negligibly and that
obtained by the experiment increases slightly. The analytical result agrees with the experimental
result. Fig. 13(b) shows the effect on the roll force and the mandrel force. With increasing the
guide shoe diameter, the roll force and the mandrel force decrease slightly.

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12

40

10

30
Outer diameter (exp.)
20
10

Inner diameter (exp.)

Forces (kN)

Diameters (mm)

1852

8
6
4

Outer diameter (anal.)

2

Inner diameter (anal.)

0
47.0 49.5 52.0 54.5 57.0
(a)
Guide shoe diameter (mm)

Roll force (anal.)

Mandrel force (anal.)

0
47.0
(b)

49.5 52.0 54.5 57.0

Guide shoe diameter (mm)

Fig. 13. Effect of guide shoe diameter on diameters and forces: (a) outer and inner diameters, (b) roll force and mandrel
force.

Fig. 14. Effect of guide shoe diameter on distributions: (a) equivalent strain rate distribution (1/s), (b) equivalent strain
distribution.

Fig. 14 shows the effect of the guide shoe diameter on the distributions in the case that it is
equal to 57 mm. Fig. 14(a) shows the effect on the equivalent strain rate distribution and Fig.
14(b) shows the effect on the equivalent strain distribution. When the guide shoe diameter is equal
to 57 mm, although the material is in contact with the guide shoe halfway thought the simulation,
the material is not in contact with the guide shoe nally. On comparing Fig. 14 with Fig. 6,
although the guide shoe affects the strain rate distribution slightly, it affects the strain distribution
negligibly.

4. Conclusions
Simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process is performed for the rst time by means of the
three-dimensional rigid-plastic nite-element method. The following results are obtained:
(1) A method of analysis is proposed for the steady-state formulation in the case that the sides of
the nite elements cannot be made to coincide with the streamline of the material ow.

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K. Komori / International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 47 (2005) 18381853

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(2) The simulation of the Mannesmann piercing process is performed under various rolling
conditions and the effects of these on various rolling properties are demonstrated.
(3) The results of the analysis are compared with those of the experiment, the rolling condition of
which corresponds to the rolling condition in an actual Mannesmann piercing process. The
analytical results agree with the experimental results and the validity of the method of analysis
is thus conrmed.

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