A DESKTOP COMPUTER MODEL OF ARC WELDING USING A CFD APPROACH

A sophisticated computational model of metal–inert gas arc welding of aluminium is presented. The arc plasma, the electrode and the workpiece are included in the computational domain self-consistently. The flow in the arc plasma and in the weld pool are calculated in three dimensions using equations of computational fluid dynamics, modified to take into account plasma effects and coupled to electromagnetic equations. A graphical user interface has been developed, and the model runs on standard desktop or laptop computers. The computational model is described, and results are presented for lap fillet weld geometry. The importance of including the arc in the computational domain is shown. The predictions of the model are compared to measurements of weld geometry and weld composition. The GUI is introduced, and the application of the model to predicting the thermal history of the workpiece, which is the input information that is required for predicting important weld properties such as residual stress and distortion and weld microstructure, is discussed. NOMENCLATURE A magnetic potential