Pressing and Thermoforming Simulation in Fluent Workspace Polyflow

Hello and welcome to this video on thermoforming simulation using Ansys Polyflow via the Fluent Workspaces environment. Our first step, we will read the mesh. This mesh includes one solid for the mold and one solid for the preform. We are using volume elements instead of shells.

We have the preform here and the mold over here on the right. The next step is to use the template. We will use the type of pressing. We have zero fixed molds, but we do have one. The next step will be to look at our outline view, all the steps to complete.

Check the General tab first, just to confirm things. So, it is 3D geometry, calculation type is transient, task is pressing, and duration is half a second, and include inertia effects as on by default. We will check on the fluids. So, that is one step.

We will just use the defaults for the default fluid for now. Then, go into the cell zone. The fluid zone will be our preform, and that is system 11. And the moving mold zone is system 21. In this case, we have a moving mold. We can set the velocity in the z direction using an expression.

So, I have a text editor here, so I just copy and paste, switch to expression. Try to use copy. There we go. So, this will move the mold till this surface runs into the preform. The next step is to set the boundary conditions.

We have one already set up here, but we do need to set up the geometry, so I will start with this one.

And on this, we will say the fixed is the edge, so the perimeter, and we use an expression for the gauge pressure, so that it will pull the pressure after a period of time after the mold has stopped moving. And again, we will use an expression.

On display, we get these error messages down here because at time equals zero, there is zero pressure, and the display does not know which way to display direction vectors. So, this error is okay for now. It is just for display purposes only. Now, we need to add some more boundaries.

So, we do a right click on fluid boundary conditions. We add another free surface. In this case, we pick on the preform near and do the edges again for the fixed part. In this case, our gauge pressure is zero. And one more fluid boundary condition.

This will be zero velocity, and this will be for the edge. Next, we will drop down to contact with the moving mold, so our fluid zone, the closest surface would be this preform. The contact surface with the mold would be this system 21. And maybe we will update the penetration accuracy.

The next step would be the fluid deformation. Just pick on the fluid zone, which is system 11. And then adaptive meshing down to condition 1. So, we will pick the free form.

And then the mode of contact is system 21. And I will change it from the method of curvature to distance, and maybe I will update the backup here to adaptive meshing.

We see the number of steps is five, and going down into solution, derive quantities, we update this estimated thickness zone, which would be that fluid zone for the preform, and useful borders, we pick on the surfaces. The last step would be the calculation activities. Well, close to the last step.

We will continue with the defaults here. And then the last step really would be in the outputs and activating the STL to get the SDL geometry throughout the simulation and especially at the end. And now, we will drop down to run calculation, do a check.

It says everything is good, so we can click calculate to start the simulation. At the end, we can look at the results, in this case, look at the motion of the meshes. So, I will pick on all of our surfaces, okay, do a display, it shows the final time.

So, we can see the preform here and the mold next to it, but we can use the time step animation to view that transient. So, at the beginning, we see the pressing, and then we see the vacuum forming. This concludes our video. Thank you for watching. Bye bye.