3. Introduction to numerical cutting simulation

3.1 Objectives and difficulties

The aim of numerical approaches to cutting is to provide the chip geometry and an estimate of the distribution of physical quantities in the machined material: velocity u, tensor of strain rates $\stackrel{·}{\epsilon }$ and stresses σ, plastic deformation ε, temperature θ, or even other quantities characterizing the metallurgical evolution of the machined material (nature of phases, grain size, hardness, residual stresses...) or its damage in the chip and below the surface created by machining. The approach can also be extended to the tool itself (assuming thermoelasticity as a first approximation) to estimate the stress and temperature...