Abstract
In order to reduce weight of a high-speed railroad vehicle, the main body has been manufactured by hollow section extrusion using aluminum alloys. A porthole die has utilized for the hollow section extrusion process, which causes complicated die geometry and flow characteristics. Design of porthole die is very difficult due to such a complexity. The three-dimensional finite element analysis for hollow section is also an arduous job from the viewpoint of appropriate mesh construction and tremendous computation time. In the present work, mismatching refinement, an efficient domain decomposition method with different mesh density for each subdomain, is implemented for the analysis of the hollow section extrusion process. In addition, a modified grid-based approach with the surface element layer is utilized lot three-dimensional mesh generation of a complicated shape with hexahedral elements. The effects of porthole design are discussed through the simulation for extrusion of an underframe part of a railroad vehicle. An experiment has also been carried out for the comparison. Comparing the velocity distribution at the outlet with the thickness variation of the extruded part, it is concluded that the analysis results can provide reliable measures whether the die design is acceptable to obtain uniform part thickness. The analysis results are then successfully reflected on the industrial porthole die design.
