Analysis Type

Steady state or transient analysis. If the analysis type is transient, it can have fixed mesh (TransientFixedMesh) or moving mesh (TransientMovingBoundary). The moving mesh option simulates the movement of the billet in the case of direct extrusion, or the die in the case of indirect extrusion.

Extrusion Type

Direct or indirect extrusion. In the case of direct extrusion, ram pushes the billet and forces it through the die opening. In indirect extrusion, the die is pushed instead of the billet.

Container Diameter

The inner diameter of the liner of the container. In the HyperXtrude profile, the liner is not distinguished separately from the container.

Die Initial Temperature

Initial temperature of the die. This parameter is only used for transient analyses.

Billet Axial Taper

Here the billet temperature is different at different axial locations. The billet is hotter at the front end that touches die and cooler at the back end that is pushed by the dummy block. During extrusion, as the material deforms, the mechanical energy is converted to thermal energy thereby increasing the billet temperature. By using axial taper, we can ensure that the exit temperature is constant.

Billet Radial Taper

In traditional furnace heating, the billets inner core is heated last (there are some heating techniques where the core is heated first) . This can produce a temperature gradient in radial direction. This option allows you to simulate the influence of radial taper on material flow during extrusion.

Billet Lateral Taper

After the billet is loaded into the container it sits idle for 30 sec to 60 sec. During this time, it loses heat to the container (mass of container is larger than the billet). Since the billet diameter is smaller than the container diameter, the heat loss occurs from the bottom half. This results in temperature gradient in the lateral direction (along the diameter - bottom to top). This temperature gradient can have significant influence on the production. Imagine a die with two holes extruding two profiles. If we orient the die such that one opening is on top of another, the bottom profile will exit at lower speed (lower temperature means the material is harder to deform). If, on the other hand, we place the two holes side-by-side, the bearing design must take into account for the lower temperature at the bottom half of the profiles.

Billet Interface Tracking

Activates billet interface calculations. Tracking the billet interface help to determine the region of the product that contains materials from two different billets. This parameter is used only for transient analyses.

Ram Speed

Ram velocity. This parameter is also used to specify the Inflow BC velocity component along the extrusion direction.

Work Converted To Heat (%)

Percent of mechanical energy converted to thermal energy. In strictly viscous materials, all the work is dissipated, that is the work converted to heat is 100 percent , but in materials that have an elastic component, not all work is dissipated. The default value is 90 percent, and was determined based on experimental data.

Calculate Free Surface

Compute shape of surface with the free surface boundary condition. After the profile exits the die, it can deform freely. To capture this action, the profile surface is defined using the "FreeSurface" boundary condition. This provides the ability to predict how the profile will deform due to imbalance in flow and normal velocities.

Max Number of Mesh Updates

Maximum number of cycles of mesh updates. Mesh is updated to capture the deformation in the profile (free surface) and tool. By enabling more updates, you can iterate until the deformation converges.

Mesh Update Tolerance

Tolerance to control/stop the mesh updates. When the mesh displacement between two successive steps is smaller than this value, mesh update loops will stop.

Free Surface Start Location

Start the integration of the free surface deformations at this coordinate in the extrusion direction. This is determined automatically.

Free Surface Weight Power

An advanced parameter that controls how the free surface is deformed. This value will determine the weight to control the deformation as a function of the length from the free surface starting point. The default value is 0 and is recommended.

Extrusion Direction

Extrusion axis. The default value is z-axis, which is recommended. Some parts of the interface may not work correctly if this default value is changed (bearing definition, flat die template, etc.)

Number of Cycles

Number of extrusion cycles. This parameter must be specified in coordination with the number of time steps and is used only for transient analyses.

Container Initial Temperature

Initial temperature of the container. This parameter is used only for transient analyses.

Billet Length

Length of the billet. This parameter is used to compute the mesh movement and is used only for transient analyses.

Billet Preheat

Billet pre-heat temperature. This parameter is used as the initial condition for the analysis in the case of transient runs and as initial guess in the case of steady state analysis.

Butt Length

Length of un-extruded portion of the billet. This parameter is used to compute the mesh movement and is used only for transient analyses.

Ram Acceleration Time

Time to reach maximum ram speed (seconds). This parameter is used only for transient analyses.

Viscous Dissipation On/Off

Viscous dissipation flag. The default value is On.

Calculate Tool Deflection

Compute tool deflection due to surface forces and thermal loads.

Mesh Update Flag

Enable or disable mesh modification. The mesh is modified due to profile and/or tool deformation. HyperXtrude computes the displacements and moves the mesh to adhere to the deformed shape.

Mesh Update Frequency

How often mesh is updated in a transient analysis.

Free Surface Relaxation Factor

Relaxation factor for free surface deformations

Free Surface SUPG Parameter

SUPG (Streamline-Upwind Petrov-Galerkin) parameter for free surface calculations.

Analysis Type

Steady state or transient analysis.

Viscous Dissipation On/Off

Viscous dissipation flag. Default is On.

Penalty Parameter

Penalty parameter. This value controls how accurately the mass is conserved. The default value for polymer processing is 1.0E+08. The value is not independent; it depends on other model parameters.

Calculate Free Surface

Compute shape of surface with the free surface boundary condition. After the profile exits the die, it can deform freely. To capture this effect, the profile surface is defined using the "FreeSurface" boundary condition. This provides the ability to predict how the profile will deform due to an imbalance in flow and normal velocities.

Max Number of Mesh Updates

Maximum number of cycles of mesh updates. Mesh is updated to capture the deformation in the profile (free surface) and the tool. By enabling more updates, you can iterate until the deformation converges.

Mesh Update Tolerance

Tolerance to control/stop the mesh updates. When the mesh displacement between two successive steps is smaller than this value, the mesh update loop will stop.

Free Surface Start Location

Start the integration of the free surface deformations at this coordinate in the extrusion direction. This is determined automatically.

Free Surface Weight Power

An advanced parameter that controls how the free surface is deformed. This value will determine the weight to control the deformation as a function of the length from the free surface starting point. The default value is 0 and is recommended.

Extrusion Direction

Extrusion axis. Default value is the z-axis.

Work Converted to Heat (%)

Percent of mechanical energy converted to thermal energy. Percent of mechanical energy converted to thermal energy. The default value is 90 percent . In strictly viscous materials, all the work is dissipated, that is, the work converted to heat is 100 percent , but in materials with an elastic component, not all work is dissipated. For viscoelastic materials, based on the constitutive model, it is possible to estimate this value using the second law of thermodynamics.

Calculate Tool Deflection

Compute tool deflection due to surface forces and thermal loads.

Mesh Update Flag

Enable or disable mesh modification. The mesh will be modified due to profile and/or tool deformation. HyperXtrude will compute the displacements and move the mesh to adhere to the deformed shape.

Mesh Update Frequency

How often mesh is updated in a transient analysis.

Free Surface Relaxation Factor

Relaxation factor for free surface deformations.

Free Surface SUPG Parameter

SUPG (Streamline-Upwind Petrov-Galerkin) parameter for free surface calculations.

Roll Direction

Direction in which the rolled profile is coming out.

Initial Slab Thickness

Initial thickness of the slab.

Roller Center – Y

Y-coordinate of the center of the roller. This information is used to compute the velocity from the RPM value.

Roller Radius

Radius of the roller.

Calculate Tool Deflection

Compute tool deflection due to surface forces and thermal loads

Mesh Update Flag

Enable or disable mesh modification. The mesh will be modified due to the profile and or toll deformation. HyperXtrude will compute the displacements and move the mesh to adhere to the deformed shape.

Mesh Update Frequency

How often mesh is updated in a transient analysis.

Free Surface Relaxation Factor

Relaxation factor for free surface deformations.

Free Surface SUPG Parameter

SUPG (Streamline-Upwind Petrov-Galerkin) parameter for free surface calculations.

Viscous Dissipation On/Off

Viscous dissipation flag.

Final Slab Thickness

Final thickness of the slab.

Roller Center – X

X-coordinate of the center of the roller. This information is used to compute the velocity from the RPM value.

Roller Center – Z

Z-coordinate of the center of the roller. This information is used to compute the velocity from the RPM value.

Roller Rotational Speed

Roller speed.

Calculate Free Surface

Compute shape of surface with the free surface boundary condition

Max Number of Mesh Updates

Maximum number of cycles of mesh updates

Mesh Update Tolerance

Tolerance value to control/stop the mesh updates

Free Surface Start Location

Start the integration of the free surface deformations at this coordinate in the extrusion direction

Free Surface Weight Power

An advanced parameter that controls how the free surface is deformed. This value will determine the weight to control the deformation as a function of the length from the free surface starting point. The default value is 0 and is recommended.

Work Converted to Heat (%)

Percent of mechanical energy converted to thermal energy. The default value is 90 percent . In strictly viscous materials, all the work is dissipated, that is, the work converted to heat is 100 percent.

Pin Diameter

Diameter of the pin that is used to weld the two plates. This information is available in a meshed model.

Pin Rotational Speed (rpm)

Speed at which the pin spins. Using this value and the rotational speed, velocity is computed.

Pin Translational Speed

Speed at which the pin moves along the welding direction.

Shoulder Height

Height of the shoulder.

Pin Height

Height of the pin.

Pin Tilt Angle (deg)

Angle at which the pin is tilted.

Shoulder Diameter

Diameter of the shoulder.

Analysis Type

Valid options are steady state (SteadyState) or transient (TransientFixedBoundary).

Flow Equation Type

Stokes/Navier-Stokes equations. Stokes equations do not include the inertia terms and are appropriate for slow flows.

Reference Length

Characteristic length used for computing dimensionless numbers and non-dimensionalization. This value should be representative of the model under consideration. If it is a pipe flow, then the diameter of the pipe is the characteristic length.

Isothermal Flow Yes/No

Isothermal or non-isothermal flow. In the case of isothermal flow, heat transfer analysis is not performed.

Reference Lower Temperature

Characteristic temperature used for computing dimensionless numbers and non-dimensionalization. This value should be representative of the model under consideration.

Viscous Dissipation On/Off

Viscous dissipation flag to turn on or off viscous dissipation. This value allows the code to compute the heat generated by stress work and add that contribution to the heat transfer analysis.

LBB Factor

LBB factor for pressure calculation. This advanced parameter is used to obtain smooth pressure solutions.

Body Forces On/Off

Gravity terms flag

Gravity in Y-Direction

Y-component of gravity vector

Velocity Load Factor

Factor that multiplies the velocity specified in InflowBC. This factor makes it possible to decrease or increase the velocity at the inlet. You can use the parameter to perform a DOE or slowly ramp up the value to compute the solution at higher speeds.

Flow Direction

Flow axis.

Initial Guess Type

See Initial Guess.

Reference Velocity

Characteristic velocity used for computing dimensionless numbers and non-dimensionalization. This should be representative of the model under consideration. Typically, this is the average velocity at the inlet.

Reference Upper Temperature

Characteristic temperature used for computing dimensionless numbers and non-dimensionalization. This value should be representative of the model under consideration.

Convective Heat Transfer Type

Flag for convection type. Values include free, forced, or mixed convection. Mixed convection is the recommended option, because it leaves the decision of what dominates the heat transfer to the thermodynamics of the problem and it includes the effects of both free and forced convection.

Work Converted To Heat (%)

Percent of mechanical energy converted to thermal energy. In strictly viscous materials, all the work is dissipated (that is, the work converted to heat is 100 percent ), but in materials that have an elastic component, not all work is dissipated. For viscoelastic materials, based on the constitutive model, it is possible to estimate this value using the second law of thermodynamics.

Acceleration Due to Gravity

Acceleration due to gravity.

Gravity in X-Direction

X-component of gravity vector

Gravity in Z-Direction

Z-component of gravity vector