Calibration of laser welding model based on optimization techniques

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the calibration of a laser welding model suitable for solving problems with input data that are either unknown or known only approximately. Design/methodology/approach The calibration starts from the measured temperature profile of the weld, and the aim is to get a similar profile by the solution of the model. The corresponding procedure is based on replacing the material characteristics that are known only approximately by polynomial or rational functions whose coefficients are determined using a suitable optimization process. The algorithm is supplemented with a simplified model of the keyhole shape. Findings The big advantage of the proposed approach is the velocity of solution of the problem and low consumption of the sources (hardware and software). In comparison with solving the full model of laser welding, the methodology provides results of a still acceptable accuracy by several orders faster. On the other hand, the results also depend on the strategy of selecting the points at which the temperature is verified and on “manual” setting of the deformation parameters. Research limitations/implications Application of the methodology is conditioned by several experiments with the used material (without experiment it is impossible to carry out the calibration and set the shape of the keyhole), while the full model allows it. On the other hand, the full model is not able to predict the errors in the case when some input data is unknown or known only approximately and the results have to be also confirmed experimentally. Practical implications The presented methodology may be used for determining unknown material characteristics and faster modelling of laser welding. Originality/value This paper proposes a novel methodology for evaluation of quality of laser welds in cases of unknown or partially unknown material parameters and substantial acceleration (by 2-3 orders) of the numerical solution of the model of laser welding.