The General page enables the user to define information such as Title, Working coordinate system, Acceleration time, and Thermal analysis for the current stage. A typical General page is illustrated in Figure 8.3.14.

Figure 8.3.14  A typical General page

TITLE

This function allows the user to key in the title for each forming stage. For multiple stage stamping analysis, the user can specify different titles for each stage.

WORKING COORDINATE SYSTEM

This function allows the user to set the working coordinate system for each stage. Sheet Forming supports arbitrary stamping direction. Default working coordinate system is set as Global Z direction. The user may choose a C.S. from the list of coordinate system as Working Coordinate System of the current stage, or click on the Select button to select from the display screen. If local stamping direction is needed, the user can click the New button to define LCS for the current stage. The local W direction is chosen as the stamping direction. The newly created LCS will be automatically set as the working C.S. of the current stage. Refer to Section 2.5 for a description about creating LCS.

TOOL ACCELERATION TIME

This function allows the user to set the acceleration time for tool motion curve. During defining motion curve in LS-DYNA, the user should provide an acceleration time to ensure the stability of calculation when the velocity increases from 0 to maximum. The default acceleration time is 0.001(s), as illustrated in Figure 8.3.15.

Figure 8.3.15  Set acceleration time

THERMAL ANALYSIS

If the user selects the Coupled Thermal Structural Analysis, the program will add a Thermal page after the Tools page. All the parameters for thermal forming will be set in the Thermal page. Refer to Section 8.3.8.1 for a detailed description about the setup of thermal forming.