Front end bending in plate rolling influenced by circumferential speed mismatch and geometry

Front end bending in plate rolling creates enormous forces impacting on the roller tables, which reduce productivity eventually entailing expensive downtimes. Furthermore, front end bending reduces the quality of the plates considerably. Many investigations on that topic have been published in the past and are summarized in this work. Some basic relations explaining the causes and consequences of front end bending are already known. However, operators are still struggling with the problem. An implicit two-dimensional finite element model has been employed to simulate the front end bending based on fundamental geometric relations. This paper focuses on the well known bending due to the related mismatch of circumferential speed between the work rolls. The shift of the neutral point, i.e. where no curvature occurs, from thin to thick rolling stock is reported for the first time and shows interesting results. The mismatch of bending intensity between thin and thick rolling stock is also reported. The absence of the neutral point for very thick rolling stock is explained. A comparison between previously published results and the current investigations provides a broad overview on the front end bending in plate rolling.