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Comparison between different heat sources types in thin-plate welding

simulation

Chapter · October 2013

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3250.1123

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Comparison between different heat sources types

in thin-plate welding simulation

M. Hashemzadeh, B.-Q. Chen & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT:  The effect of three different kinds of heat input on the behaviour of finite element models
of three dimensional elasto-plastic analysis of the response of plates subjected to welding are studied.
The models used are Gaussian, semi ellipsoidal and double ellipsoidal, which are applied to stainless steel
thin plates. Temperature-dependent material properties are adopted as they are important to consider in
transient thermo-mechanical analysis. Temperature distribution, residual stresses and distortions are cal-
culated in each case and numerical results are verified against published experimental measurements. It is
shown that all of the heat sources have similar results of temperature distribution but the semi ellipsoidal
and double ellipsoidal sources have more accurate results in structural response. It is found that consider-
ing the thickness direction in applying heat input is important even in thin plates. Accordingly to welding
processes such as GMAW or laser welding, the semi ellipsoidal and double ellipsoidal models represent
well experimental results and real conditions.

1  Introduction stresses in butt-welded joints. They measured the

Simulation of welding by means of finite ele-
ment tools has attracted more attention in recent
years. Thermal elasto-plastic analysis using finite
element techniques is used to analyse the thermo
mechanical behaviour of steel structures. Deng
(2009) investigated the effects of solid-state phase
transformation on welding residual stress and dis-
tortion in low carbon and medium carbon steels
by means of sequentially coupled thermal, metal-
lurgical, mechanical 3-D finite element model base
on ABAQUS. The simulation results revealed that
the final residual stress and the welding distortion
in low carbon steel do not seem to be influenced by
the solid-state phase transformation. However, for
the medium carbon steel, the final residual stresses
and the welding distortion seem to be significantly
affected by the martensitic transformation.
Bachorski et al. (1999) developed a linear elas-
tic finite-element modelling technique to predict
post-weld distortions. The model solution times
are reduced significantly and the use of linear elas-
tic finite-element methods permits large, highly
complex welded structures to be modelled within
a reasonable time frame. The initial models were
in reasonable agreement with the experimentally
determined distortion values.
Chang et  al. (2004) used finite element tech-
niques to analyse the thermo mechanical behav-
iour of welded plates and to evaluate the residual
residual stresses at the surface of the weldments by
X-ray diffraction. The FE results agreed well with
experimental results.
Deng and Murakawa (2006) developed 3-D
and 2-D finite element codes to analyse tempera-
ture fields and residual stress states in multi-pass
welds in SUS304 stainless steel pipe. The simulated
result shows that the 2-D model by saving large
amount of computational time can be effectively
used to simulate the thermal cycles and the weld-
ing residual stresses for SUS304 stainless steel pipe.
­Experiments were carried out to verify the effec-
tiveness of the proposed numerical models and
both 3-D and 2-D model were in very good agree-
ment with the experimental measurements.
Long et  al. (2009) investigated the distortions
and residual stresses induced in butt joint of thin
plates. FE analysis results of welding distortions
were compared with existing experimental and
empirical predictions. The welding speed and plate
thickness were shown to have considerable effects
on welding distortions and residual stresses.
Barroso et  al. (2010) investigated the effect of
simplifying hypotheses in welding simulation and
verified the results with experiments. The com-
parison between numerical and experimental data
showed that, in most cases, the simplifying hypoth-
eses lead to quite acceptable results.
Seyyedian Choobi et al. (2010) investigated the
effect of clamping and clamp releasing time on

329
welding residual stresses and distortions in the
­single-pass butt welding of 304 stainless steel plates.
They concluded that clamping and clamp release
time have a great influence on the distribution
of residual stresses and final angular distortions.
Using clamping during welding and releasing after
cooling to ambient temperature can significantly
reduce the amount of final angular distortions.
Chen et al. (2011, 2012) developed models and
techniques for predicting the temperature field and
distortions induced in ship plates by the welding
process and investigated the effects of different
parameters on the welding response, including the
torch speed, heat input and plate thickness. The
effect of different finite elements and computation
meshes were studied as well.
In the present study, three different kinds of
heat input, Gaussian, semi ellipsoid and double
ellipsoid are investigated in a stainless steel thin
plate and are compared with experiment measure-
ments. They seem to have comparable results in
temperature distribution but the semi ellipsoid and
the double ellipsoid models have more accurate
results in structural part.
2  Heat Source Models
The modelling of a moving heat source is a typical
transient process. During the motion of the heat
source, the heat energy remains constant, but the
location of the centre of the heat source changes
from time to time. Once the finite element model
is established, the selected heat source model can
be applied in the model as discussed before. The
principle is that the parameters of the function
that represents the locations of the heat source are
supposed to be changed with time. All the outer
surface of the finite element model are subjected
to heat convection, while the elements inside the
geometric heat source model defined by the func-
tion are subjected to heat flux instead.
Time loop is adopted in the calculation, which
means that the calculated result of the present time
step is used as the initial condition of the next time
step. The time interval for each time step can be
calculated as the dimension of the plate in welding
direction divided by the welding speed.
Therefore, at each time step, the parameters of
the heat source function and the heat source centre
change with time, the moving of the heat source
can be well simulated.
2.1  Gaussian distributed model
Rosenthal (1941) was among the first researchers
to develop an analytical solution of heat flow dur-
ing welding based on conduction heat transfer for
330
Figure 1.  Gaussian distributed heat source.
predicting the shape of the weld pool for two and
three-dimensional welds. His analytical solutions
of the heat flow made possible for the first time the
analysis of the welding process.
The second generation weld heat source mod-
els are the models with distribution heat functions.
They are now the most widely used models due
to their better accuracy then the first generation
models and less complexity compared with those
of the newer generation.
Friedman (1975) proposed to apply the Gaus-
sian distributed heat source, a popular one among
the second generation models, to approximately
express the heat flux in a heating spot. For the
normal welding process, the Gaussian distributed
heat source model is able to provide precise enough
results. The heat flux q(r), with a distance r from
the heat source centre, can be expressed as:
 3r 2  3Q  3r 2 
q(r ) = qmax exp  − 2  = exp − 2  (1)
 R  π R2  R 
where qmax is the maximum heat flux in the center
of the heat source, Q = ηIU is the heat flux of the
arc where η, I, U are the efficiency, current and
voltage of the welding process, respectively, and R
is the radius of the heating spot.
2.2  Semi-ellipsoidal model
For the welding process in which the momentum
effect of arc is considerably large, the disadvantage
of the Gaussian distribution model in the result-
ing accuracy appears due to neglecting the effect
of the arc stiffness.
To solve this problem, Goldak et al. (1985) ini-
tially proposed a semi-ellipsoidal heat source in
which the heat flux is distributed in a Gaussian
manner throughout the heat source’s volume.
As can be seen in Figure 2, the semi-axes of the
ellipsoid are (ah, bh, ch). Heat flux reaches the maxi-
mum value in the centre of heat source, whose dis-
tribution is given by the following equation.
 Substituting equation (6) and equation (7) into
equation (3), the heat flux Q(x,y,z) at a point
(x,y,z) within the semi-ellipsoid is given by:

6 3Q  3x 2 3 y 2 3 z 2 
q( x, y, z ) = exp  − 2 − 2 − 2  (8)
ahbhchπ π  ah bh ch 

2.3  Double–ellipsoidal model

The experience with the semi-ellipsoid heat source
showed that the predicted temperature gradients in
front of the arc were less steep than experimentally
Figure 2.  Semi-ellipsoidal distributed heat source. observed ones and gradients behind the arc were
steeper than those measured. To overcome this,
Goldak et al. (1984) combined two semi-ellipsoids
q( x, y, z ) = qmax exp( − Ax 2 − By2 − Cz 2 ) (2) and proposed a new heat source called double
ellipsoidal heat source, as shown in Figure 3.
Since two different semi-ellipsoids are combined
where A, B, C are the heat flow distribution to give the new heat source, the heat flux within each
coefficients. semi-ellipsoid are described by different equations.
Since heat flow is distributing inside the semi- For a point within the first semi-ellipsoid located
ellipsoid in the weldment surface, the heat flux can in front of the welding arc, the heat flux equation
be expressed as: is described as:
∞∞∞
q f ( x, y, z )
Q = η IU = 4 ∫ ∫ ∫ q( x, y, z )dxdydz
000 6 3( f f Q)  3x 2 3 y 2 3 z 2 
∞ ∞ = exp  − 2 − 2 − 2  , x ≥ 0 (9)
= 4qmax ∫ exp( − Ax 2 )dx ∫ exp( − By2 )dy abc f π π  a b cf 
0 0 
∞
∫0 exp( −Cz 2 )dz where ff is the heat input proportion in the front
 1 π  1 π  1 π  part. The heat input is equal to:
= 4qmax    
 A 2  B 2  C 2  ∞∞∞
q π π 2 ∫ ∫ ∫ q f ( x, y, z )dxdydz
= m (3)
2 ABC
000
6 3 ffQ ∞ 3x 2  ∞  3 y2 
where
=
abc f π π 0
∫ exp  −
 a2 
 ∫0
dx e x p  − 2  dy
 b 
∞  3z 2 
2Q ABC × ∫ exp  − 2  dz
qm = (4)
π π
0
 cf 

6 3 ffQ a π b π cf π 1
Assume that 95% of the heat energy is produced =2
abc f π π 3 2 3 2 3 2
=
2
(ffQ )
inside the semi-ellipsoid, as (10)

q(ah , 0, 0 ) = qm exp( − Aah2 ) = 0.05qm (5)

Thus,

3
A= (6)
ah2

Also,

3 3
B= C= (7)
bh2 ch2 Figure 3.  Double-ellipsoidal distributed heat source.

331
 For points (x, y, z) within the second semi- f f + fr = 2 (14)
e­ llipsoid, covering the rear section of the arc, the
heat flux equation is described as:

3  Thermo-Mechanical analysis
6 3 ( frQ )  3x 2 3 y 2 3 z 2 
qr(x, y, z ) = exp  − 2 − 2 − 2  , x < 0
abcrπ π  a b cr  By means of finite element tools a sequentially
coupled thermo elastic plastic computational
 (11) model is developed to calculate temperature dis-
tribution, residual stresses and distortions in each
where fr is the heat input proportion in the rear
case. It should be mentioned that the ANSYS finite
part. Also,
element software is used in this study, for thermo
∞ ∞ ∞ 1 mechanical analysis doing at the first step a ther-
2∫
0 ∫0 ∫0 qr ( x, y, z )dxdydz = 2 ( frQ ) (12) mal analysis and at the second step the thermal
results are applied as loading for the mechanical
part. Figure 4 illustrates the indirect finite element
Since thermo-mechanical method.
In this study thin 304  stainless steel plates
η IU = Q =
1
2
( )1 1
(
f f Q + ( frQ ) = Q f f + fr
2 2
) (13) with 150*200*2  mm dimensions are simulated
in a ­welding procedure with the GTAW method
with welding current 280  Amp, voltage 25 volt
It is obvious that and welding speed 2.5  mm/sec. The convection

Figure 4.  Flow diagram of transient thermo-mechanical analysis model.

Table 1.  Thermal and mechanical material properties of 304 stainless steel (Seyyedian et al. 2010).

Specific Young’s Yield Thermal

Temperature Conductivity Density heat modulus stress Poisson’s expansion
(°C) (J/mm°C sec) (g/mm3) (J/g ºC) (GPa) (MPa) ratio coefficient (°C-1)

0 0.0146 0.00790 0.462 198.5 265 0.294 1.70E-05

100 0.0151 0.00788 0.496 193 218 0.295 1.74E-05
200 0.0161 0.00783 0.512 185 186 0.301 1.80E-05
300 0.0179 0.00779 0.525 176 170 0.310 1.86E-05
400 0.0180 0.00775 0.540 167 155 0.318 1.91E-05
600 0.0208 0.00766 0.577 159 149 0.326 1.96E-05
800 0.0239 0.00756 0.604 151 91 0.333 2.02E-05
1200 0.0322 0.00737 0.676 60 25 0.339 2.07E-05
1300 0.0337 0.00732 0.692 20 21 0.342 2.11E-05
1500 0.1200 0.00732 0.935 10 10 0.388 2.16E-05

332
heat transfer is considered with 50*10−6 W/mm2
heat transfer coefficient. Radiation heat transfer is
ignored. Temperature dependent material accord-
ing to Table 1 is used for thermo mechanical analy-
sis. Solidus, liquid and ambient temperatures are
1424 ºC, 1454 ºC and 20 ºC respectively.

4  FINITE ELEMENT Model

To prepare the FE model that satisfies the problem

condition, the eight-noded 3D brick thermal ele- Figure  6.  Temperature distribution by applying
ment Solid 70 is used for thermal analysis, whereas ­Gaussian heat input.
the element will be converted to the correspond-
ing structural element Solid 185 for the mechanical
analysis. This element type is also an eight-noded,
three-dimensional element but has plasticity, hyper-
elasticity, stress stiffening, creep, large deflection,
and large strain capabilities.
Figure 5 presents a typical mesh which is used in
FEM. Fine mesh is implemented in the weld while
large element size are used in the regions far away
from the welding line. The fine mesh is used in the
welding area in order to apply input heat more
accurately when the moving heat source passes
the area at specific time. The filler material can be Figure  7.  Temperature distribution by applying Semi
considered as part of the welded plate. Symmetry ellipsoid heat input.
properties are used to model half of the plate to
reduce computing time.

5  Results and discussion

Figures 6–8 show temperature distribution results

in cases of applying Gaussian, semi ellipsoid and
double ellipsoid as heat input source. The measur-
ing points were selected in 10 and 20 mm distance
from the centre of weld. The results are compared
with the experimental observations in Seyyedian
Choobi et al. (2010).
It seems that all models have reasonably good Figure 8.  Temperature distribution by applying double
results according to the real condition. It should ellipsoid heat input.
be noticed that to have comparable results, the
same parameters are supposed to be applied. The
Table 2.  Comparison of peak temperature in all cases.

Semi Double
Points Gaussian ellipsoid ellipsoid Experiment

10 mm 683 679 667 668

20 mm 286 301 282 302

c­ ooling rate is affected by conduction, convection

Figure 5.  ANSYS finite element model.
and radiation heat transfer, and from these figures
it can be concluded that cooling rate is also affected
by heat input model and dimensions of it.
Table 2 lists the peak temperatures of all cases,
from which it can be concluded that the tempera-

333
ture history distribution for thin plate has similar
results in Gaussian, semi ellipsoidal and double
ellipsoidal heat source.
Figure  9 illustrates the longitudinal residual
stress distribution for different kind of applying
load. It seems that Goldak models have acceptable
results comparing with the experimental results.
Figures 10 and 11 show deflections at the weld
start location and at the middle of the weld line
respectively. The figures show that the values of
deflection in the three case studies are equal. Also
Figure 12.  Angular distortion measuring by FEM and
experimental.

from these figures it is clear that the deflection at

mid of plate is higher than at the start point and
the end point because the fixing points are consid-
ered at these locations. It can be concluded that the
fixing point of the welded plate can decrease the
deflection but it is important that residual stress
should be controlled.
The angular distortion, which was measured
in the experiment and FEM, are compared in
­Figure  12. The values of deformations are the
Figure 9.  Longitudinal residual stress. same and the numerical results are in agreement
with experimental measurements.

6  ConclusionS

In this study, the effect of applying different heat

input models for simulating welding are inves-
tigated by means of 3D finite element method.
Three cases, Gaussian, semi ellipsoidal and double
ellipsoidal welding heat input models have been
studied. Experimental measurements are consid-
ered from reference papers. The following conclu-
sions are obtained from this study:
• The temperature history distribution for thin
plate has similar results in Gaussian, semi ellip-
Figure 10.  Deflection at weld start location. soidal and double ellipsoidal heat source.
• FEM longitudinal residual stress results with the
Gaussian heat source does not agree well with
the experimental measurements.
• It seems that considering thickness direction in
applying heat input is important even in thin
plates.
• Distortion in all three cases of heat input model
has similar behaviour.
• Cooling rate is also affected by heat input model
and dimensions of it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The second author has been funded by an ABS

Figure 11.  Deflection at middle of weld line. Phd scholarship.

334
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