Thermal Elasto-Plastic Analysis of Large Steel Plate Cutting Using Layered Shell Elements

Abstract

In this study, plasma cutting deformation of a large plate was simulated by applying a thermal elasto-plastic analysis technique using a layered shell elements. First, plasma cutting heat source model was proposed based on double Gaussian distribution model. And the proposed heat source model was compared with the experimental results through heat source parameter tuning. In addition, by applying the adaptive element division technique, we increase the heat flux input accuracy for the heat source concentration in a cutting area. And by applying the element de-activating technique, it was possible to simulate the melted part extinguished by cutting. Thermal elasto-platsic analysis of cutting of large plates was performed using the developed heat source model. To this end, layered shell element was used, and heat flux was applied to each layer of the layered shell element to improve the accuracy of analysis. The analysis result was compared with the experimental result to confirm the analysis accuracy. Through the analysis results, the occurrence of rotational deformation and bending deformation that affect the dimensional quality of large plates was verified, and its validity was reviewed by comparing them with the experimental measurement results.