Fluid Flow In Weld Pool Research Articles

A Parallel Numerical Study of Transient Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow of Weld Pool during Laser Keyhole Welding

Numerical simulation provides a way to improve our understandings of the heat transfer and fluid flow behaviors of the weld pool during laser keyhole welding. However, current numerical studies are only limited to serial simulations which running on a single CPU. In this study, a parallel numerical study of the heat transfer and fluid flow of the weld pool is presented. A mathematical model considering the effect of Marangoni force, buoyancy force, friction force of the mushy zone region and the effect of keyhole is presented. A combined keyhole volume and surface heat source model is also developed. The coupled transient heat transfer and Navier-stokes equations are solved with a high order accuracy parallel projection method. The simulation code is parallelized with the OpenMP language. It is shown that 200% speedup can be achieved on a shared memory quad-core CPU using the presented parallel simulation system. The simulation results agree well with the in-situ high speed CCD video imaging experiments and the literature results.

Modeling of transport phenomena in hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding

Mathematical models and associated numerical techniques have been developed to investigate the complicated transport phenomena in spot hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding. A continuum formulation is used to handle solid phase, liquid phase, and the mushy zone during the melting and solidification processes. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is employed to handle free surfaces, and the enthalpy method is used for latent heat. Dynamics of weld pool fluid flow, energy transfer in keyhole plasma and weld pool, and interactions between droplets and weld pool are calculated as a function of time. The effect of droplet size on mixing and solidification is investigated. It is found that weld pool dynamics, cooling rate, and final weld bead geometry are strongly affected by the impingement process of the droplets in hybrid laser-MIG welding. Also, compositional homogeneity of the weld pool is determined by the competition between the rate of mixing and the rate of solidification.

Modelling of transport phenomena in 3D GMAW of thick metals with V groove

This paper analyses the dynamic process of groove filling and the resulting weld pool fluid flow in gas metal arc welding of thick metals with V groove. Filler droplets carrying mass, momentum, thermal energy and sulfur species are periodically impinged onto the workpiece. The complex transport phenomena in the weld pool, caused by the combined effect of droplet impingement, gravity, electromagnetic force, surface tension and plasma arc pressure, were investigated to determine the transient weld pool shape and distributions of velocity, temperature and sulfur species in the weld pool. It was found that the groove provides a channel which can smooth the flow in the weld pool, leading to poor mixing between the filler metal and the base metal.

Simulation of weld solidification microstructure and its coupling to the macroscopic heat and fluid flow modelling

The microstructure exerts a strong influence on the mechanical properties and on the integrity of welded joints. Prediction of the formation of the microstructure during welding and of other solidification processes may be an important and supporting factor for technology optimization. Nowadays, increasing computing power allows direct simulations of the dendritic and cell morphology of columnar grains in the molten zone for specific temperature conditions. Modelling is carried out, on the one hand, with the finite difference—cellular automata and, on the other hand, with the phase field method. Determination of the solidification conditions during fusion welding (temperature gradient, local solidification rate, weld pool shape) is carried out with a numerical macroscopic finite element modelling calculation of the weld pool fluid flow and of the temperature distribution, as presented in this paper. As with the use of accurate physical models, the simulations are carried out with a spatial resolution of the microstructure, and many assumptions and restrictions from traditional, analytical or phenomenological models may be eliminated. The possibilities of using numerical algorithms for generation and visualization of microstructure formation during solidification are demonstrated. The spectrum of applications extends from welding and casting to processes with rapid solidification. In particular, computer simulations of the solidification conditions and the formation of a dendritic morphology during the directional solidification in gas–tungsten-arc welding are described. Moreover, the simulation results are compared with the experimental findings.

Modeling and finite element analysis on GTAW arc and weld pool

In this paper, integral mathematic model of fluid flow and heat transfer of GTAW arc and weld pool was established. This model built in this paper may avoid the assumption which surface temperature of weld pool is constant and at the same time provide reliable boundary conditions for analyzing of weld pool. Using finite element analysis software ANSYS, behavior of welding arc and weld pool was systematically analyzed including welding arc temperature field, current density distribution, fluid flow in weld pool and effects of a few forces on weld pool shape. The calculated results were proved by experiments.

Modelling turbulent thermofluid flow in stationary gas tungsten arc weld pools

The effects of turbulence in stationary gas tungsten arc (GTA) welds in AISI 304 stainless steel were examined using a finite element thermofluids model. The model includes buoyancy, Lorentz and Marangoni driven fluid flow, a large deformation model of the free surface, and a k–ε turbulence model. To facilitate implementation of the wall function boundary conditions for the k–ε turbulence model, a dynamic numerical grid remapping technique was used to clearly separate elements in the liquid from those in the solid. The influences of sulphur content of AISI 304 stainless steels on the turbulent viscosity, fluid flow, and weld pool dimensions were simulated. Good correlation between experimentally observed and predicted weld pool shapes and dimensions was obtained. Also, the effect of sulphur concentration on AISI 304 weld pool dimensions was correctly predicted. The simulations indicate that the flow in such stationary GTA weld pools in AISI 304 stainless steel is not laminar and that quantitatively accurate predictions of weld pool fluid flow and weld shapes and dimensions will only be possible if the effects of turbulence in GTA weld pools are modelled correctly.

Effects of surface active elements on weld pool fluid flow and weld penetration in gas metal arc welding

This article presents a mathematical model simulating the effects of surface tension (Maragoni effect) on weld pool fluid flow and weld penetration in spot gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Filler droplets driven by gravity, electromagnetic force, and plasma arc drag force, carrying mass, thermal energy, and momentum, periodically impinge onto the weld pool. Complicated fluid flow in the weld pool is influenced by the droplet impinging momentum, electromagnetic force, and natural convection due to temperature and concentration gradients, and by surface tension, which is a function of both temperature and concentration of a surface active element (sulfur in the present study). Although the droplet impinging momentum creates a complex fluid flow near the weld pool surface, the momentum is damped out by an “up-and-down” fluid motion. A numerical study has shown that, depending upon the droplet’s sulfur content, which is different from that in the base metal, an inward or outward surface flow of the weld pool may be created, leading to deep or shallow weld penetration. In other words, it is primarily the Marangoni effect that contributes to weld penetration in spot GMAW.

Computational modeling of stationary gastungsten-arc weld pools and comparison to stainless steel 304 experimental results

A systematic study was carried out to verify the predictions of a transient multidimensional computational model by comparing the numerical results with the results of an experimental study. The welding parameters were chosen such that the predictions of the model could be correlated with the results of an earlier experimental investigation of the weld pool surface temperatures during spot gas-tungsten-arc (GTA) welding of Type 304 stainless steel (SS). This study represents the first time that such a comprehensive attempt has been made to experimentally verify the predictions of a numerical study of weld pool fluid flow and heat flow. The computational model considers buoyancy and electromagnetic and surface tension forces in the solution of convective heat transfer in the weld pool. In addition, the model treats the weld pool surface as a truly deformable surface. Theoretical predictions of the weld pool surface temperature distributions, the cross-sectional weld pool size and shape, and the weld pool surface topology were compared with corresponding experimental measurements. Comparison of the theoretically predicted and the experimentally obtained surface temperature profiles indicated agreement within ±8 pct for the best theoretical models. The predicted surface profiles were found to agree within ±20 pct on dome height and ±8 pct on weld pool diameter for the best theoretical models. The predicted weld cross-sectional profiles were overlaid on macrographs of the actual weld cross sections, and they were found to agree very well for the best theoretical models.

Fluid flow and weld penetration in stationary arc welds

Weld pool fluid flow can affect the penetration of the resultant weld significantly. In this work, the computer simulation of weld pool fluid flow and its effect on weld penetration was carried out. Steady-state, 2-dimensional heat and fluid flow in stationary arc welds were computed, with three driving forces for fluid flow being considered: the buoyancy force, the electromagnetic force, and the surface tension gradient at the weld pool surface. The computer model developed agreed well with available analytical solutions and was consistent with weld convection phenomena experimentally observed by previous investigators and the authors. The relative importance of the influence of the three driving forces on fluid flow and weld penetration was evaluated, and the role of surface active agents was discussed. The effects of the thermal expansion coefficient of the liquid metal, the current density distribution in the workpiece, and the surface tension temperature coefficient of the liquid metal on weld pool fluid flow were demonstrated. Meanwhile, a new approach to free boundary problems involving simultaneous heat and fluid flow was developed, and the effort of computation was reduced significantly.