Investigation of Distortion, Stress and Temperature Distribution during Assembly of the Suspension System of a Rail Car

Abstract

In this study the amount of distortion as well as stress and temperature distribution during the welding assembly of the suspension system of a rail car was investigated using numerical experiment. The welding parameters for the welding process of the suspension system of the rail car is given as: voltage (24 V), current (220 A), speed (0.005 m/s), arc length (0.01 m) and efficiency (0.9). This serves as the input parameters into ANSYS and Simufact software version 7.2 for the simulation of the arc welding process at ambient temperature of 25oC. The simulation results obtained from both software indicates that the amount of distortion is significant. The results also indicate that the relationship between flow and residual stresses with corresponding temperature is critical in evaluating the integrity of weld as residual stresses can bring about weld crack, corrosion, fatigue, corrosion or distortion. The simulation of the welding process ensures better understanding of the welding processes and helps in the reduction of the number of expensive as well as time-consuming trial runs. Furthermore, optimized welding processes results in the development of reliable weld joints and shorter welding cycles via efficient process development.