Determining the bending behavior of St-37 rectangular tubes with finite element validation

Tube bending is one of the branches of the metal forming process used in different application areas like manufacturing sectors, automobile, energy, and construction industries. In engineering applications, the bending deformations of thin-walled tubes mostly are under three-point loading, and this is an important energy absorption mechanism, especially in crash events. In this study, the bending behavior of a St37 thin-walled rectangular profile is investigated experimentally and numerically. Firstly, three-point bending tests are conducted with two different span distances between supports to investigate the effect of span distance. Dynaform - LsDyna commercial software is used for finite element validations. Prediction accuracy of plasticity modeling in simulations is evaluated by employing three different plasticity models: power law, Hill-48, and Yoshida-Uemori. Finite element results are analyzed by performing shape deviation analyses to compare the whole body of the experimental surfaces, including springback distribution.