Abstract 

The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of implicit and explicit integration schemes for simulating the metal rolling process using commercial software packages ANSYS™ and LS-DYNA™. For the industrial application of finite element method, the time discretization is one of the most important factors that determine the stability and efficiency of the analysis. An iterative approach, which is unconditionally stable in linear analyses, is the obvious choice for a quasi-static problem such as metal rolling. However, this approach may be challenging in achieving convergence with non-linear material behavior and complicated contact conditions. Therefore, a non-iterative method is usually adopted, in order to achieve computational accuracy through very small time steps. Models using both methods were constructed and compared for computational efficiency. The results indicate that the explicit method yields higher levels of efficiency compared to the implicit method as model complexity increases. Furthermore, the implicit method displayed instabilities and numerical difficulties in certain load conditions further disfavoring the solver’s performance. Comparison of the implicit and explicit procedures for time stepping was applied in 3D finite element analysis of the plate rolling process in order to evaluate and quantify the computational efficiency.