Abstract
This paper addresses the use of the kriging approach to predict the springback in the air bending process. The materials and the geometrical parameters, which significantly affect the springback, were considered as inputs, and the springback angle was considered as the response. A verified nonlinear finite element model was used to generate the training data required to create the kriging metamodel. The training examples were selected based on computer-generated D-optimal designs. A comparison between the kriging approaches and the response surface methodology is conducted and discussed. The results showed that kriging accurately predicts the finite element springback results. Comparing the accuracy of kriging with a response surface methodology shows that kriging with a 2nd degree polynomial and exponential correlation function predicts the springback more accurately than the response surface methodology.