A Robust Optimisation Strategy for Metal Forming Processes

Robustness, reliability, optimisation and Finite Element simulations are of major importance to improve product quality and reduce costs in the metal forming industry. In this paper, we propose a robust optimisation strategy for metal forming processes. The importance of including robustness during optimisation is demonstrated by applying the robust optimisation strategy to an analytical test function and an industrial hydroforming process, and comparing it to deterministic optimisation methods. Applying the robust optimisation strategy significantly reduces the scrap rate for both the analytical test function and the hydroforming process