Sheet metal with implicit geometry: models, tools and forming

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Community submission — not verified by nTop. This package was submitted by an outside community member and has not been reviewed or verified by nTop. Treat its accuracy, safety, and compatibility claims with appropriate caution.

Summary

Three editable notebooks, a guided HTML report, forming GIFs and bend/draft demos comparing implicit modeling with B-rep CAD. Includes clearly scoped external FE and unloading diagnostics.

Package Details

Field	Value
ID	`sheet-metal-implicit-workflow`
Type	Bundle
Author	bradrothenberg
Version	0.1.0
nTop Version	6.1+
Domain	Mechanical
Application	Sheet metal geometry and forming studies
Complexity	Advanced
Tags	`sheet-metal`, `implicit-modeling`, `forming`, `springback`, `tooling`, `notebook-api`
License	MIT
Verified	No

Build a reusable sheet-metal geometry workflow in nTop, then distinguish geometric intent from computed forming behavior. This community edition compares implicit and B-rep approaches using three editable notebooks, an offline HTML report, three GIFs, two interactive engineering demos, exact notebook block references, and recorded external OpenRadioss evidence. Start here: download sheet-metal-workflow.zip, extract it, and open report.html. Keep its adjacent folders. The report uses nTop blue, works offline and includes play/still controls, charts and sources. GitHub shows HTML source rather than running the report. Compatibility: the native file headers record development version 6.1.0. The catalog’s 6.1+ value reflects this header; public-build compatibility is unverified. No prerelease executable is included. The HTML demos do not require nTop.

Why this workflow

Implicit geometry is useful for repeated profiles, spatially varying features, Boolean combinations and generating related geometry from shared definitions. Conventional B-rep sheet-metal CAD remains a strong choice for bend tables, standard flat patterns, drawings and familiar downstream CAD/CAM exchange. Both can be parametric and automated; this study is not a timed performance comparison.

Example GIFs

Target geometry and translucent tools — prescribed motion

The sheet follows an authored mapping. This is a geometry/release-envelope illustration, not material-flow simulation or qualified die design. Drafted housing geometry study

The housing has provisional 3-degree draft. Constant target thickness and visually separated tools do not establish a feasible draw or production clearance.

Actual external FE motion — diagnostic result

The sheet moves from computed nodal coordinates. Corrugated-r5 has 13.99 mm mean Y-edge draw-in and 17.62% maximum computed thinning. Material strain coverage and mesh/density sensitivity remain unresolved, so these are diagnostic values.

Installation and use

Extract the download and open report.html in a modern browser.
Read notebook-walkthrough.md, then open a copy of one of the .ntop files in models/ in a compatible nTop build.
Expand Inputs, Calculations, Construction and Checks. The walkthrough gives exact saved block labels; Expressions contains generated intermediate arithmetic.
Use the browser bend/K-factor and draft/release demos to understand the relationships. They are analytic illustrations, not nTop execution or FE predictions.
Inspect recipes/ and evidence/ for graph definitions, hashes, mesh checks and numerical results. Changing a notebook invalidates the recorded baseline comparison until reevaluated.

Demo	Key inputs	Saved outputs / scope
Enclosure	Thickness, Inside bend radius, K factor, envelope, seam gap, root radius	`Formed enclosure`, `Flat enclosure blank`; beveled miter edges need preparation
Corrugated shield	Thickness, Inside bend radius, tangent lengths, length, holes	`Final Corrugated mounting shield`; five waves with analytic bends
Stepped housing	Thickness, step rises, floor radius, bead dimensions	`Final Stepped drawn housing`; 3-degree draft is a compiled meridian choice
External FE evidence	Recorded material, contact, mesh and release setup	Draw-in, thinning and elastoplastic unloading diagnostics; not an nTop solid or production qualification

Important results and limits

Three forming cases and three settled unloading cases are summarized in the report. Crossmember inertia and housing contact checks fail; all forming cases exceed the source hardening-table strain range. All unloading cases pass the selected settling screens but show additional plastic strain, so this package does not claim elastic-only springback, certified blanks or compensated production dies. Only three of the six complex geometry families were simulated. These are previously recorded runs, not new simulations for this publication. The archive does not contain the full FE solver environment. Public manufacturer families inspired the original study geometry; no supplier CAD or source photographs are redistributed. See source ledger, the report’s primary references, and notebook index. The enclosure corner image was regenerated without desktop automation: nTop Automate exported a local mesh at a 0.01 mm setting, then PyVista/VTK rendered it offscreen. The source notebook is unchanged. This is a render of native exported geometry, not an nTop viewport screenshot; capture provenance records its hashes and settings.

License

MIT for the original study files, report, figures and code in this package; see license.txt. Linked third-party documentation and the nTop/OpenRadioss applications retain their own licenses. No supplier endorsement or manufacturing release is implied.

Source

https://community.ntop.com/#/detail/sheet-metal-implicit-workflow

Download

Download sheet-metal-implicit-workflow.ntop

​Summary

​Package Details

​Why this workflow

​Example GIFs

​Target geometry and translucent tools — prescribed motion

​Actual external FE motion — diagnostic result

​Installation and use

​Important results and limits

​License

​Source

​Download