Numerical simulation and control of welding distortion for double floor structure of high speed train

The welding heat source models and the plastic tension zone sizes of a typical weld joint involved in the double floor structure of high speed train under different welding parameters were calculated by a thermal-elastic-plastic FEM analysis based on SYSWELD code. Then, the welding distortion of floor structure was predicted using a linear elastic FEM and shrinkage method based on Weld Planner software. The effects of welding sequence, clamping configuration and reverse deformation on welding distortion of floor structure were examined numerically. The results indicate that the established elastic FEM model for floor structure is reliable for predicting the distribution of welding distortion in view of the good agreement between the calculated results and the measured distortion for real double floor structure. Compared with the welding sequence, the clamping configuration and the reverse deformation have a significant influence on the welding distortion of floor structure. In the case of 30 mm reverse deformation, the maximum deformation can be reduced about 70% in comparison to an actual welding process.