Explicit simulations of cambered web steering

Abstract

Cambered webs are common in the web handling industry. The mechanics analyses of stressed cambered webs have been reported by several publications [1]-[3]. The majority of the test data that exist demonstrate that cambered webs steer towards their longer side. A closed form solution [4] and numerical methods [5]-[9] have been focused on the lateral behavior of the cambered web as well, but have provided no explanation of steering toward the longer side. The work that has been done focused on analyzing or modeling a cambered web span. The results from the current work demonstrate that camber in a web causes slippage between webs and rollers that produce lateral steerage. To better understand cambered web response under tension, studying the lateral mechanics of a cambered web passing over aligned rollers is the major focus of this work. Abaqus/Explicit [10] has been used to model cambered web and the transit of the web over a series of rollers. An Abaqus user defined subroutine, VUAMP, has been used to develop the first successful simulation of a web position guide interacting through contact friction with a web. This capability was needed such that a cambered web could be presented with known orientation and initial conditions to a test span where the web steering behavior resulting from camber could be studied. Simulation results are compared to experimental results [3]. The boundary conditions, which govern the steering of a cambered web in a test span, have been concluded based upon this analysis.