Time averaged temperature calculations in pulse electrochemical machining, spectral approach

Abstract

Simulation of the temperature distribution during the Pulse Electrochemical Machining (PECM) process provides information on system design and guidelines for practical use. The pulses that are applied to the PECM system have to be described on a time scale that can be orders of magnitude smaller than the time scale on which the thermal effects evolve. If the full detail of the applied pulses has to be taken into account, the time accurate calculation of the temperature distribution in PECM can become a computationally very expensive procedure. A different approach is used by time averaging the heat sources of the system. Performing this, the time steps used during the calculations are no longer dictated by the pulse characteristics. Using this approach, computationally very cheap, yet satisfying results can be obtained. In previous work of the authors, the hybrid calculation and the Quasi Steady State ShortCut (QSSSC) were introduced. This method allows to perform simplified calculations while getting satisfactory results. The method introduces errors however, which were quantified using analytical solutions and found to be acceptable. The results applied only to rectangular pulses. In this work, the more general case of arbitrary pulse forms is considered using a spectral approach.