Calculation of Thermal Processes around Moving Molten Pool Using Boundary Element Method

Abstract

Abstract—A technique for the calculation of the steady-state temperature field in a solid part of a welded workpiece has been developed by using a moving weld pool size as input data and a boundary element method for solving the heat conduction problem. The technique allows one to calculate the effective power and thermal efficiency of a heat source. An example of a through-penetration arc welding with a tungsten electrode for the case of a 4-mm-thick aluminum alloy 1565chMU reveals the temperature gradient distributions and cooling rate at the pool boundary. A good agreement is observed between the calculated and experimental thermal cycles. The distribution of hardness in the cross section of a butt weld is presented.