Abstract: The numerical simulation on the sectional multi-point forming process for sheet metal parts is performed by means of finite element method. The deformation characteristics of the first step sectional forming are studied and the influence of different overlapping areas on the forming results is compared. The transitional forming process is presented and simulated at the meantime. It is shown that the main issue for the sectional multi-point forming is the low center curvature and drastic distortion on the front of the forming area. The sectional forming method with overlapping area can restrict the variety of curvature, but the drastic distortion is not removed. So the transitional forming method is adopted to remove the local distortion and achieve the high quality products, The research proves that using small MPF machine to produce large-scale sheet parts is feasible by the transitional forming method.

Key words: Finite element method, Numerical simulation, Sheet metal, Technics