Effective FE simulation methods for fillet welding process by continuous distributed heat input and element combination

Abstract

This study proposed effective finite element methods for simulating the fillet welding process on T-shaped joints. The T-shaped fillet welded joints were fabricated, and the process was simulated by a Continuous Distributed heat input method (CD method) and combining shell and solid elements. This study compared the models by the Discontinuous Uniform heat input method (DU method) and the CD method. The results showed that the CD method not only simplified the modeling process but also reduced the calculation time compared to the DU method. Furthermore, combining solid and shell elements reduced the number of nodal points in the models. The calculation time of the models by the element combination was significantly reduced. By comparing with experiments, it was shown that the CD heat input method and the combination of solid and shell elements could save calculation time while keeping the analysis accuracy.