Int. J. Mech. Sci. Vol. 32, No. 7, pp. 601-611, 1990 0020-7403/90 $3.00+.

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Printed in Great Britain. © 1990 Pergamon Press plc

ON THE ANALYSIS OF HOT FORGING OF ARTILLERY SHELLS

M. J. M. BARATAMARQUES and P. A. F. MARTINS

Instituto Superior Tecnico, Sec. de Tecnologia Mecanica, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1096 Lisboa, Portugal

(Received 24 July 1989; and in revised form 12 January 1990)

Abstract--The forging of shells at elevated temperatures, is analysed by the upper-bound method.

Two different techniques are presented for the construction of kinematically admissible velocity
field. A comprehensive explanation of the specific basis of both techniques is followed by a
description of some examples of this application. The examples concern the hot forging of 105-mm
and 120-mm artillery shells. The theoretical results obtained by the particular technique are
compared with the results found under production conditions. The results show that the upper-
bound method can predict metal flow and forming load with satisfactory accuracy, which makes this
method especially attractive for industrial implementation, since it does not need large computer
facilities.

NOTATION

V volume of the deforming material

S surface of the deforming material
Fi surface of velocity discontinuity within V
Sf portion of the outer surface where tractions are applied
J upper bound on power
o-o material yield stress of rigid-perfectly plastic material
components of strain rate tensor
T shear stresses on the Sr surfaces, and along the die--workpiece friction interface
Av velocity discontinuity on S
r, applied surface tractions in Sf
Vi velocity of the points at Sf
R extrusion ratio
0 angle of inclination of the streamline to the z-axis
V velocity of a point in the metal flow
¢, angle of inclination between lines normal to the entry and exist boundaries and the z-axis
N number of sub-domains considered in the plastic zone
V flow function
A~j unknown parameters in the flow function
1)o velocity of the punch
Yoi radius of the flow line at the entry
Vr, Vz velocity components
£'r, £0, F'z, ~rz strain rate components
effective strain rate
effective strain
ai,j polynomial components used in the characterization of the velocity discontinuity surfaces
n degree of the polynomials used in the velocity discontinuity surfaces
VT total velocity
m friction factor

1. INTRODUCTION
In metal-forming technology, process development may involve several try-out
experiments. These experiments are costly, and can be reduced by means of simulation
using numerical approximation methods.
Among the numerical methods used to simulate metal-forming operations, the weighted
residual method, the upper-bound method, and the finite element method are undoubtedly
the most popular. These methods offer the capability to analyse simple stationary processes
like rolling and extrusion, as well as more complicated processes like nonsteady-state
operations, since they provide useful information about the mechanics of the deformation.
In this work, hot forging of 105-mm and 120-mm artillery shells are studied by means of
the upper-bound method. The study enables the determination of the load required on the
601
602 M . J . M . BARATAMARQUESand P. A. F. MARTINS

tools during different phases of the manufacturing operation, and provides useful
information about the stress and strain distributions inside the workpiece.
The results are useful for the establishment of design criteria for forging dies and tools,
and also for the selection of the manufacturing press.

2. METHOD OF ANALYSIS
Basic equation
The upper-bound theorem is widely applied in metal forming to determine a load
estimate to perform a certain operation.
The theorem was formulated by Prager and Hodge [1], and later modified by Drucker et
al. [2], in order to include surfaces of velocity discontinuities. It states that, "Among all
kinematically admissible strain rate fields the actual one minimizes the expression"

J = - -2a o fv/(1/2)i;,;dW+fsZlAv,dSfsT,,,,dS
r f
(11

where J is the applied power, a o the material yield stress,/:-ij the strain rate components, r
the shear stresses on the S r surfaces of velocity discontinuity Av, within the volume of the
body, and along the die-workpiece interface where friction occurs. Ti are the prescribed
applied surface tractions, acting on the surfaces Sr at a velocity t~i.
Velocity field
Since the actual velocity field, is the one that minimizes the associated power J of the
upper-bound theorem, the assumption of a specific velocity field is a crucial task.
In this work two different approaches were used to select the velocity field.
The first approach, called direct formulation, is based in a general kinematically
admissible velocity field proposed by Marques [3] for the axisymmetric extrusion, and later
applied by Marques et al. [4] to the hot forging of 120-mm artillery shells. This approach
splits the body geometry in several sub-domains, bounded by velocity discontinuity
surfaces. Their shape and position are obtained from the minimization of the process power
J, with respect to flee parameters included in the velocity field. This method has also been
applied by Marques and Martins [5] to the analysis of plane strain extrusion.
In the second approach the velocity field is determined from a flow function formulation.
The advantage of this later technique is the elimination of the velocity discontinuity
surfaces.
Direct formulation
This formulation divides the plastic deformation zone into several plastically deforming
sub-domains, such that a good fit is provided between both the discretized plastic region
and the actual one (Figs l, 2).
As the sub-domain volumes are small, no significant error is introduced if straight flow
lines are considered in each one of them (Fig. 2). In this way a material flow pattern closer to
reality is determined avoiding the assumption of a particular shape.
For the sake of convenience of the analysis, the actual velocity field was transformed by
superposing a uniform velocity field, equal to the punch velocity. The flow model of the

s, ,,," ///,/ ]
Rigid ( ZONE III )
1
/ ~IsIF \r6 ~
Z ~igi4 !_ pUNCH I,B sub-domains considered ( ZONE II )

FIO. 1. Forging of the 120-mmartilleryshell. Sub-domainsconsidered in the plastic region.

 Hot forgingof artilleryshells 603

DIE

Real shape
Discretization

FIG. 2. Discretization of the 120-mm artillery shell. Flow pattern in the plastic region.

velocity field with such an assumption can be easily related to the axisymmetric forward
extrusion of tubular components [3].
Figure 3 illustrates the plastic flow in a sub-domain bounded by the velocity
discontinuity surfaces Fa and F2. In this velocity field the r-coordinate of the points where
the streamlines meet the velocity discontinuity surfaces F 1 and F 2 respectively are related
by:
~/r 2 - REi
rl = -R + REi' (2)

R being the extrusion ratio in the sub-domain:

R2 -- R 2`
R- R2 ~ _ R~," (3)

Figure 3 also shows the flow between two close streamlines with inclination angles 0 and 0
+ dO in the sub-domain. The point O where these streamlines meet is not a fixed point.
From the constancy of volume rate along a streamline, comes:
(I = 2~rpdOv = 2 n r l P l d O v l , (i = 1, 2) (4)
where p is the radius of a cylindrical surface at P, Pl and P2 are the radius at the interfaces
F1 and F2 in the streamline. The velocity at a point P in the sub-domain, can be calculated
from the velocity of the points at the entry or exit surfaces in the same streamline by:
Pi vi ri
v = (5)
pr
From the condition of continuity, of the normal component of velocity before and after
crossing the velocity discontinuity surface, the following relation is obtained (Fig. 4):
1)i, N C O S ( ~ i -- O N ) = Vi,N_ 1 COS(I/Ii- ON_ 1), (6)
where ¢J is the angle between the z-axis and the normal to the discontinuity surface:

0i=arctg ( -dr ij (i=1,2). (7)

A full derivation of the strain rate field can be found in [3, 4].
Flow function formulation
This formulation considers the streamlines in the whole deforming region. In this way no
velocity discontinuity surfaces are presented and consequently the velocity field is
continuous. The flow function satisfying the condition of volume constancy is constructed
from the coordinates of the points of the streamlines in a form of a set of trial functions:

= vPa + ~Pb~.~.Aiir :(i) z °(i), (8)

t 3
604 M. J. M. BARATAMARQUESand P. A. F. MARTINS

1"2

I-" _ r 2
•~ ' l O . - I R2s

z
FIG. 3. Flow between two close streamlines in a general sub-domain.

/
domain N /"
~m~io.-I~ ~ ./I
vie

/"'~ON ViN-1
Z

FIG, 4. Flow before and after crossing a velocity discontinuity surface.

r DIE

vo
z

FIG. 5. Streamlines considered in the flow function approach for the 120-mm shell.

where Aii are the u n k n o w n p a r a m e t e r s and, kI'/a a n d ~Pb are functions satisfying some
b o u n d a r y conditions.
The value of the flow function a l o n g a streamline is calculated from the initial c o n d i t i o n s
in the u n d e f o r m e d region:

~?i = nrZivo (9)

where vo is the velocity of the punch, a n d r0i is the radius of the flow line at the entry (Fig. 5).
The free p a r a m e t e r s Aij are d e t e r m i n e d by minimizing the e r r o r between the functions
given by expressions (8) a n d (9) for all the streamlines. F o r this p u r p o s e the least square
m e t h o d is applied.
U s i n g the incompressibility condition, the r a d i a l v, and axial v: c o m p o n e n t s of the
velocity are expressed by,
1 c3~I
/
Ur - -
2~r Oz
1 ?,hl/
v. . . . . . (10)
27~r ?r
 Hot forgingof artillery shells 605

Strain rate field

The components of the kinematically admissible strain rate field, are calculated by
differentiating the velocity components with respect to r and z:
0vr
~ ' - Or
Dr
40 ~ -- (ll)
r

OVz
~=- Oz

e.z=2\~z + Or )"
A full derivation of the velocity and strain rate fields can be found in the Appendix.
Strain field
The total amount of plastic strain is evaluated by integrating the effective strain rate
along the streamline,

i= dz + ~ gi (12)
~Vz i= 1

where g is the effective strain, g is the effective strain rate, and gi is the effective strain due to
the velocity discontinuities.
Optimization
The upper-bound theorem establishes an overestimate of the actual power and load. It
provides the maximum load that a press or machine will require during the actual forming
process.
In order to get higher accuracy, the assumed velocity field should resemble the actual one
as closely as possible.
In the direct formulation approach, in order to calculate the best velocity field within
those of the same family, a technique to minimize the upper-bound power is used. This
minimization consists in a power optimization with respect to the free parameters
incorporated in the velocity field, which govern the shape and position of the velocity
discontinuity surfaces.
To reach this goal the surfaces Fi are described by polynomials in the form,
r = a i . o + ai. lz + . . . +ai,.z". (13)
These must satisfy some additional restrictions, which are imposed in terms of the
prescribed geometrical boundary conditions:
1. In the 120-mm shell, the velocity discontinuity surfaces must contain the points at the
material-punch and material~lie interfaces, prescribed to split the deforming region in N
sub-domains (Fig. 1). Under these conditions, each velocity discontinuity surface introduces
n - 1 free parameters. Thus equation (I) can be symbolically expressed as a function of (N
+ 1).(n - 1) unknown parameters ai, j,
d = d(ax,2 . . . . . al,,, a2,2 . . . . . au+l.,). (14)
2. In the 105-mm shell, only the points at the material-punch interface were supplied.
Consequently the number of unknown parameters is equal to (N + 1).n, which gives a value
greater than that found for the 120-mm shell,
J = J(al, x, ax,2 . . . . . al,., a2,1, a2, 2 . . . . . aU+l,n). (15)
When the total power of deformation J is minimized with respect to a~.j, the optimal
position and the shape of the velocity discontinuity surfaces are determined (Fig. 6).
For both the 120-mm and 105-mm artillery shells, parabolic surfaces were selected, and
the minimization procedure was performed using a quasi-Newton [6] technique. Table 1
summarizes the optimization conditions.
606 M.J.M. BARATAMARQUESand P. A. F. MARTINS

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(no minimization) --
I ( Parabolic discontinuities (after minimization)pUNCH

I
IS7.5 mm

FIO 6 Velocitydiscontinuitysurfacesfor the 120-mm shell,obtainedfrom a directformulation

approach.

TABLE 1,

M120 M105

Number of sub-domains (N) 8 5

Number of velocity discontinuity surfaces (n) 9 6
Number of unknown coefficientsfor a parabolic velocity
discontinuity surface 3 3
Number of restrictions per surface 2 1
Total number of degrees of freedom 9 12

For the flow function formulation, special care must be taken in the selection of the
streamlines. Experimental observations show that plastic deformation undergoes a smooth
transition at the entrance, and at the exit, and also towards downstream. In this way smooth
streamlines are constructed, so that no abrupt changes in the flow directions are produced,
and therefore no velocity discontinuities are introduced in the formulation (Fig. 5).
The choice between the different streamline profiles that could be designed for a given
reduction of area, cannot be uniquely determined, and therefore the selection must be
performed by the user, according to his practical intuition.

3. M A N U F A C T U R I N G C O N D I T I O N S

The shell forging tools are installed in 3430 kN (350 Tonf.) hydraulic presses. The forging
loads measured during the operation under production conditions were approximately
1960 kN (200 Tonf.) for the 120-mm shell, and 2940 kN (300 Tonf.) for the 105-mm shell.
The working material is a CK45 DIN 17200 steel, previously heated to a temperature of
1000°C for the 120-mm shell and 1100°C for the 105-mm shell according to measurements
made at the furnace exit.

4. C O M P U T A T I O N A L C O N D I T I O N S

The plastic deforming region was discretized into a mesh of triangular elements. Strain
hardening effects were neglected due to the high temperature of the operations. The flow
stress of the material was estimated considering the stress-temperature variation curves.
Frictional shear stress is evaluated by z = ink, where k is the yield shear stress and
0 ~< m ~< 1. Frietiozial conditions were taken into account by adopting a friction factor of 0.1
and 0.2 for the 105-ram and the 120-mm shells respectively. Table 2 summarizes the
computational conditions.
 H o t forging of artillery shells 607

TABLE 2.

M120 M105

Flow stress (MPa) 118.0 88.2

Temperature (°C) 1000 1100
Friction factor (m) 0.2 0.1
Number of nodal points 800 1000

without minimization
---- with minimization
250 ,250O
----- flo~ function ~ _
• manuf, conditions ~ ' ~ q ~ " - •
~21m 2000

•1500 v

~ 1110 ,101Xl

50 50O

I I I
1 O0 200 300 400
Punch displacement (ram)

FIG. 7. Predicted forming load for the 120-mm shell. Results obtained from a direct formulation
approach, with and without power minimization and also from the flow function approach.

400

with minimization
--.-- flo~ function
30O • manuf, conditions ~.... --~ 3OOO
• ./'/"

"tO

.J

1oo 1011o

I I I
B 1011 2fl[I 300 riO0
Punch displacement (ram)

FIG. 8. Predicted forming load for the 105-mm shell. Results obtained from a direct formulation
approach with power minimization and also from the flow function approach.

5. R E S U L T S A N D D I S C U S S I O N

This section presents the results obtained with the direct and flow function formulations.
Some selected examples obtained from the simulation of hot forging of 120-mm and 105-
mm artillery shells, are considered and discussed•
Load
Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the forging load distributions against the punch displacement,
for the 120-mm and 105-mm shells, respectively obtained with the two different approaches.
For each shell the results show good agreement between the two formulations.
608 M . J . M . BARATAMARQUES and P. A. F. MARTINS

(a) DIE
1
Vr/ V0

0.3

0.9 RINEH v
167.5mm

(b) DIE

t/ vo

0.4

0.1 PUNCH
!
167.5 mr.

FIG. 9. Radial velocity field (v,) for the 120-mm shell. (a) Direct formulation, (b) flow function
approach.

Figure 7 also shows the difference between the loads considering plane boundaries (no
free parameters to minimize the process power), and parabolic boundaries (9 free para-
meters). The load is reduced approximately by 5% in the second case, despite the strong
increase in CPU time (10 s against 20 min in a VAX 780).
In Fig. 8 the load distribution obtained by the flow function is greater than the one
calculated by the direct formulation. On the contrary in Fig. ,7 the load distribution
obtained by the flow function formulation is the lowest of all. The possible explanation for
these different behaviors lies on the number of unknown parameters aid considered in
equations (14) and (15). In fact in the load minimization for the 105-mm shell, each velocity
discontinuity surface had two degrees of freedom against the single degree found in the 120-
mm shell.
At the last stage of the punch displacement, the load is in satisfactory agreement with the
manufacturing conditions.
Flow pattern
Figure 2 presents the flow pattern, shape and position of the parabolic velocity
discontinuity surfaces for the 120-ram shell (direct formulation). It is clear that the most
important part of the plastic deformation, takes place in sub-domains 1 and 2 located under
the "head of the punch".
The flow pattern indicates that the approach of the streamlines to straight lines, in each
sub-domain considered, allows a smooth path for the material towards the exit. The
parabolic boundaries used in the discretization, are presented in their final form as a result
of the minimization of the process power J.
Velocity field
Figures 9 and 10 illustrate the radial and total velocity fields for the 120-mm shell. The
highest values of the radial velocity are found in the "head of the punch" region, as the
material flows mainly in the radial direction.
 Hot forging of artillery shells 609
(a) DIE

VT/V o
0.6

1.0 m

I .0

0.8
PUNCH

167.5 mm

(b)
JT/Vo

l J

!
1.0

2 P ~

167.5 mm

FIG. 10. Total velocity field (VT)for the 120-mm shell. (a) Direct formulation, (b) flow function
approach.

vz / v°

FIG. l 1. Tridimensional plot of the axial velocity field (v,), for the 105-mm shell, obtained from the
flow function approach.

C o m p a r i s o n s between the two formulations show that there is a g o o d agreeement

concerning the total velocity, while in the radial velocity distribution there is some
discrepancy in the "head of the punch" region. This fact is due to the accentuated velocity
discontinuities in that zone when no smoothing is performed.
Figure 11 shows a tridimensional distribution of the axial velocity field for the 105-mm
artillery shell.
610 M. J. M. BARATAMARQUES and P. A. F. MARTINS

DIE
F----,,'"-~ .o~ ~ ~ .o~ ,-- 1

I 191.4 mm =~
I
FIG. 12. Effective strain rate field for the 105-mm shell, obtained from a flow function approach.

FIG. 13. Tridimensional plot of the effective strain rate field, for the 105-mm shell (flow function
approach).

DIE

191.4 mm

FIG. 14. Effective strain field for the 105-mm shell, obtained from a flow function approach.

Strain rate field

Figure 12 shows the effective strain rate distribution in the last phase of the 105-mm shell
forging. The highest values of the deformation are also in the "head of the punch" region. A
tridimensional plot of this variation is presented in Fig. 13. Figure 14 presents the effective
strain field obtained from equation (12), using a flow function formulation.

6. C O N C L U S I O N S

This work presents two different techniques for the construction of kinematically
admissible velocity fields which can be applied to the analysis of hot forging of shells. One is
based on an analytical development of the plastic flow while the other uses the concept of
flow function. Both formulations were applied to the hot forging simulation of 120-mm and
105-mm artillery shells.
The first approach allows the body to be split into several sub-domains with some free
parameters introduced in the velocity discontinuity surface equations. The flow function
 Hot forging of artillery shells 61 !

formulation enables a quick calculation of all the variables without assuming velocity
discontinuity surfaces, but depends on the experience of the user to propose the flow lines.
Besides loads, the velocity field is compared for each shell forging, using the two methods.
Also the strain rate and strain fields are determined. The results obtained by the two
techniques show a good agreement. When the direct formulation is utilized, a good estimate
to the load is achieved even when no optimization is performed. A lower estimate can be
obtained if the minimization is carried out with respect to a larger number of free
parameters. In this case the CPU time needed for the power minimization increases
strongly.
A satisfactory agreement is also provided concerning the loads obtained during the
manufacturing operation.

Acknowledgement--The authors wish to express thanks for the financial support provided by Junta Nacional de
Investigaq~o Cientifica e Tecnol6gica of Portugal.

REFERENCES

1. W. PRAGER and P. C. HODGE JR, Theory of Perfectly Plastic Solids. Wiley, New York (1951).
2. D. C. DRUCKER, W. PRAGER and H. J. GREENBERG, Extended limit design theorems for continuous media. Q.
appl. Math. 9, 381 (1952).
3. M. J. M. B. MARQUES, Hydrostatic extrusion of tubes. Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College of Science and
Technology, London (1980).
4. M. J. M. B. MARQUES, P. A. F. MARTINS and J. M. C. RODRIGUES, Hot forging of shells, an upper bound
approach. J. Mater. Proc. Tech. 21, 65 (1990).
5. M. J. M. MARQUES and P. A. F. MARTINS, A solution to plane strain extrusion by the upper bound approach
and the weighted residuals method. Int. J. Mech. Sci. 31, 395 (1989).
6. Subroutine EO4CGF, Nag library manual.

APPENDIX
To analyse the hot forging of artillery shells the following expression for the flow function was selected:

~= ~ ~ A,jr2'+2z '. (A1)

i=l j=l

In a longitudinal section the plastic deformation region/punch and plastic deformation region/die interfaces were
assumed as streamlines. The number of terms in equation (A 1) was chosen as a compromise between the accuracy
of fitting and the computing time. The free parameters A u were determined by the least square method.
The expressions for velocities were obtained from equation (10):

v, = j ~ Aijr T M zj-'
i j

vz = - ( 2 i 4 - 2 ) E E A i j r 2iz j (A2)
i j
and the strain rates were obtained from equation (ll):

~, = j ( 2 i + 1 ) ~ Aijr21z j-1
i j

~= -(2i+2)j~.~Aijr 2iz j - I
i j

e0 = J ~ ~ Aq r 2' z j - t (A3)
i j

/~,, = ½( -- 2i(2i + 2) ~ ~ Aq rZ'- t zJ + j ( j - 1) ~ Aqr T M zJ- 2).

i j i j
Using equations (A2) and (A3) it is possible to evaluate the upper bound on power (1). The calculation of equation
(l) is performed numerically, by Simpson's method.