Automated and Low Computational Cost Thermo-Mechanical Simulation of Arbitrary GMAW T-Joint Welds Using a Moving Heat...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is crucial in automated manufacturing for part integrity.
• Accurate prediction of thermal fields and welding distortions is essential but challenging.
• Traditional finite element modeling (FEM) is time-consuming and requires specialized expertise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an automated, low-computational cost thermo-mechanical FEM methodology for GMAW T-joints.
• To integrate automated geometry, meshing, heat source implementation, and thermo-mechanical analysis.
• To enable parametric analysis of T-joint dimensions and welding conditions.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an automated FEM methodology using Ansys Parametric Design Language (APDL).
• Development of a volume element selection strategy to limit heat input calculations to the weld pool.
• Parametric analysis of continuous/intermittent single-pass GMAW T-joints with varying dimensions.

Main Results:

• Achieved up to a 50% reduction in computational time compared to conventional methods.
• Maintained high predictive accuracy for temperature and displacement.
• Validated numerical results against experimental data for SM490A steel T-joints.

Conclusions:

• The developed APDL macro offers a valuable tool for automated thermo-mechanical welding analysis.
• Significantly reduces model preparation effort for GMAW T-joints.
• Enables efficient evaluation of parametric T-joint geometries and welding conditions at low computational cost.