Finited Element Analysis of Welded Structures

The object of this work was to predict the thermo-history of a welded joint using finite element analysis and provide design engineers with a reliable method of optimizing weld joint strength.

A computer model was constructed and results indicate the cooling of metal adjacent to the weld pool is the critical metallurgical location. Variables affecting this cooling time include metallurgical constituents, radius of the heat flux, velocity of the arc, thermal conductivity of molten steel. The model includes thermal conductivity and specific heat as functions of temperature, latent heat of fusion, radiation, convection and a gauss distributed heat flux.