AbstractThe precision forming of thin-walled components has been urgently needed in aviation and aerospace field. However, the wrinkling induced by the compressive instability is one of the major defects in thin-walled part forming. The initiation and growth of the wrinkles are interactively affected by many factors such as stress states, mechanical properties of the material, geometry of the workpiece and boundary conditions. Especially when the forming process involves complicated boundary conditions such as multi-dies constrains, the perturbation of clearances between workpiece and dies and the contact conditions changing in time and space, etc., the predication of the wrinkling is further complicated. In this paper, the current prediction methods were summarized including the static equilibrium method, the energy method, the initial imperfection method, the eigenvalue buckling analysis method, the static-implicit finite element method and the dynamic-explicit finite element method. Then, a systematical comparison and summary of these methods in terms of their advantages and limitations are presented. By using a combination of explicit FE method, initial imperfection and energy conservation, a hybrid method is recommended to predict plastic wrinkling in thin-walled part forming. Finally, considering the urgent requirements of complex thin-walled structures’ part in aviation and aerospace field, the trends and challenges in wrinkling prediction under complicated boundary conditions are presented.