Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan
II(S)-2015
Welding distortion control in thin metal plates
by altering heat input through weld parameters
RehanWaheed1, Abdul.Shakoor1*, Khizar Azam1, Afzal Khan1, Feroz Shah1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan
*
Corresponding Author: shakoor@uetpeshawar.edu.pk
Abstract: Welding is a fabrication process which
involves instantaneous heating and cooling of weld
metal and base metal. During this rapid heating and
cooling cycle shrinkage forces come into play. These
shrinkage forces produce residual stresses and
consequently whole base metal gets distorted. Distortion
due to welding is predominant in thin metal plates
because of less resistance to withstand the residual
stresses of yield magnitude. The heat produced during
the welding process to fuse the base metal is the main
cause of welding distortion. In this research different
weld parameters are studied which can be altered to
reduce the heat input during welding without affecting
the quality of joint. The whole welding process is
simulated with optimized weld parameters using
ANSYS. In this research a thermo mechanical approach
is used to simulate the welding process. The results are
then compared with actual weld samples. It has been
found that welding distortion can be controlled
considerably by altering arc current, arc voltage and
welding speed.
Keywords—Welding distortion, Weld parameters, Welding
simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
Welding is the most commonly used joining process in
fabrication of ferrous and nonferrous metals. In welding
process the fusion of metal take place at temperature near
the melting point of base metal. The cooling of base metal
and weld metal from melting point temperature to room
temperature is very much similar to the casting process.
Unlike casting process shrinkages are produced in the heat
affected zone during welding. As a result of these shrinkage
forces distortion is produced in the base metal. The
distortion produced during welding process disturbs the
allowable tolerance limit of part being produced. If the
whole assembly consists of sub-assemblies joined together
through welding process then problem gets intricate. In
automobile industry resistance spot welding and arc
welding are used while in ship building industry arc
welding is the most adopted joining process. It has been
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observed that arc welding process dominates other welding
processes used worldwide. In this research three weld
parameters that influence the heat input and consequently
distortion produced during welding are studied. The weld
parameters are arc current, welding speed and diameter of
electrode. Welding current and speed can be controlled
through the welding equipment under the limitation of
welding process and weld procedure. The influence of these
parameters on weld distortion is studied by simulation of
welding process and comparison of results with actual weld
samples.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Research in the field of welding distortion had been
initiated by the time of World War II but the lack of finite
element techniques and computer technology was the main
hurdle. It took several decades until some substantial work
was presented in the field of weld mechanics. The
development of FE based commercial codes made it
possible. Brickstad and Josefson [1] used ABAQUS to
perform and thermo mechanical analysis of welding
process. They model a butt welded steel pipe and on the
basis of symmetry simplified their model in two
dimensional format and axisymmetric type. They used the
temperature profile of thermal analysis as input in their
structural analysis as a result residual stresses and distortion
was obtained. In weld simulation deposition of weld metal
was quite difficult as new elements need to be created
during finite element analysis. Element birth and death
technique was introduced for this purpose. Fanous et al [2]
used a different technique called the element movement
method. They proposed in their research that element
movement method reduces the time of simulation. Teng
and Chang [3] performed weld simulation on steel pipes by
using a 3 D model. In their analysis they take into account
the circumferential stresses and also the effect of pipe wall
thickness on weld residual stresses and distortion. Murthy
et al [4] simulated welding process on butt welded thick
metal plates i.e. 25mm thick IS 20162 and 13.2mm thick
stainless steel 316L plates the processes they simulated
were metal inert gas and submerged arc welding. Pasquale
et al [5] used software SYSWELD to simulate the welding
 Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan Vol. 20(SI) No.II(S)-2015
process of dissimilar metals. They used austenitic steel, Temperature function T(x) = N1t1 + N2t2 (1)
ferritic steel and nickel weld metal. They measured the t1 and t2 are nodal temperatures to be determined
𝑥 𝑥
residual stresses through X ray diffraction technique and N1= 1 - , N2= (2)
𝐿 𝐿
compared the data with simulated results. In the production Where N1 and N2 are the shape functions
thin sheet panels for shipbuilding industry, thermal 𝑥𝑥
[N] = [1 - ] (3)
tensioning technique has been developed to control 𝐿𝐿
𝑡1
distortion induced by welding process. Jun Xu et al [6] has {𝑡} = (4)
𝑡2
studied the dynamic response of thermal tensioning process
{𝑇} = [𝑁]{𝑡}(5)
by simulating the welding process with preheating and in 𝑑𝑇
process flame heating of weld metal. They have calculated {𝑔} = { } = [𝐵]{𝑡}(6)
𝑑𝑥
the optimized temperature and heating time for thermal {𝑔}is the temperature gradient matrix
tensioning process. Masahito et al [7] introduced the 𝑑𝑁1 𝑑𝑁2
[𝐵] = [ ](7)
reverse side heating process. This process is based on the 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥

fact that heating produced during the welding process Fourier’s law of heat conduction can be written as
causes the base metal to bend or bow on one side, if the 𝑞𝑥 = −[𝐷]{𝑔}(8)
reverse side of same base metal is heated during the [𝐷] = [𝐾𝑥𝑥 ]is the thermal conductivity in x direction
welding process with another torch a similar bend will Consider a functional of all functions of energy in and
produced on the opposite side. The net effect of both out of control volume
heating process will result in a less distorted base metal. 𝜋ℎ = 𝑈 + 𝜑𝑄 + 𝜑𝑞 + 𝜑ℎ (9)
Hua-Jun Zhang et al [8] studied the double-Sided Double U= internal energy
Arc Welding (DSDAW) technique. In this technique a 𝜑𝑄 = heat source inside the control volume
forward and reverse arc welding torches are run on the base 𝜑𝑞 = heat flux q at the surface of control volume
metal simultaneously. Hua-Jun et simulated the welding 𝜑ℎ = function for heat transfer due to convection
process and calculated the distance between two torches 1 𝑑𝑇 2 1
𝑈 = ∭𝑣 [𝐾𝑥𝑥 ( ) ] 𝑑𝑉 = ∭𝑣 {𝑔}𝑇 [𝐷]{𝑔}𝑑𝑉 (10)
with their effect on welding distortion. Dongyul Lee et al 2 𝑑𝑥 2
1
[9] developed a probabilistic technique by simulating 𝑈 = {𝑡}𝑇 ∭𝑣 [𝐵]𝑇 [𝐷][𝐵]𝑑𝑉{𝑡} (11)
2
welding process with different weld parameters and then
run a sensitivity analysis based on database developed by 𝜑𝑄 = − ∭𝑣 𝑄𝑇𝑑𝑉 = − ∭𝑣 {𝑡}𝑇 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑉 (12)
the simulated results. Min Le et al [10] simulated laser 𝜑𝑞 = − ∬𝑠 𝑞𝑇𝑑𝑆 = − ∬𝑠 {𝑡}𝑇 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑆 (13)
welding process on aluminum T weld and suggested 1 1
distortion control by focusing on weld parameters such as 𝜑ℎ = ∬𝑠∗ ℎ(𝑇 − 𝑇𝐵 )2 𝑑𝑆 = ∬𝑠∗ ℎ({𝑡}𝑇 [𝑁]𝑇 −
2 2
weld speed, laser power and laser beam offset. In all the 𝑇𝐵 )2 𝑑𝑆 (
above mentioned research work one thing is common that 14)
all researches have reduced or modified the heat input Where TB is the bulk temperature or temperature of fluid
during, before or after welding to reduce the net effect of outside the control volume
distortion in base metal. This research work is also based As the nodal temperatures are independent of general
on this assumption that weld parameters connected with coordinates therefore can be taken out of integrals and 9
heat input have more influence on the distortion produced will become.
during welding. These parameters can be altered to achieve
the desired results. 1
𝜋ℎ = {𝑡}𝑇 ∭𝑣 [𝐵]𝑇 [𝐷][𝐵]𝑑𝑉{𝑡} −
2

III. FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION OF WELDING {𝑡}𝑇 ∭𝑣 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑉 −

PROCESS
The temperature distribution in basic one dimensional
element with two nodes can be represented as
1
{𝑡}𝑇 ∬𝑠 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑞 ∗ 𝑑𝑆 + ∭𝑆 ∗ ℎ[{𝑡}𝑇 [𝑁]𝑇 [𝑁] {𝑡} −
2
({𝑡}𝑇 [𝑁]𝑇 + [𝑁]{𝑡})𝑇𝐵 + 𝑇𝐵 2 ]𝑑𝑆(15)
On minimizing 𝜋ℎ with respect to {𝑡}𝑇

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 Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan Vol. 20(SI) No.II(S)-2015
𝜕𝜋ℎ required and computer memory used during the process. In
= ∭𝑣 [𝐵]𝑇 [𝐷][𝐵]𝑑𝑉{𝑡} −
𝜕{𝑡}𝑇 this research a total number of 23750, 8 node elements are
∭𝑣 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑉 − ∬𝑠 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑆 + ∭𝑆 ∗ ℎ[𝑁]𝑇 [𝑁]𝑑𝑆 {𝑡} − used which is achieved by mapped meshing with fine mesh
near the heat affected zone and coarse mesh in the
∬𝑆 ∗ [𝑁]𝑇 ℎ𝑇𝐵 𝑑𝑆 = 0 (16)
remaining base metal area.
The term hTB2 is a constant and drops out while A. Assigning Material Properties
minimizing the functional.
During the welding process temperature of base metal
and weld metal changes from room temperature to melting
By simplifying 16
point temperature. As the thermal and mechanical
properties of metal change with changing temperature
[∭𝑣 ⌈𝐵⌉𝑇 [𝐷][𝐵] 𝑑𝑉 + ∬𝑆 ∗ ℎ[𝑁]𝑇 [𝑁]𝑑𝑆] {𝑡} = {𝑓𝑄 } + therefore it is one of the basic requirements of weld process
{𝑓𝑞 } + {𝑓ℎ }(17) simulation that temperature dependent material properties
must be incorporated. For this purpose material properties
Where of ASTM A36 steel at elevated temperature are taken from
the research work of P. Michaleris – J. Dantzig and D.
Tortorelli [11].
{𝑓𝑄 } = ∭𝑣 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑄𝑑𝑉 (18)
{𝑓𝑞 } = ∬𝑠 [𝑁]𝑇 𝑞 ∗ 𝑑𝑆(19) B. Heat source modeling
{𝑓ℎ } = ∬𝑆 ∗ [𝑁]𝑇 ℎ𝑇𝐵 𝑑𝑆(20) Heat supplied during arc welding processes is given as
𝑄 = 𝜇𝑉𝐼 (25)
{𝑓𝑄 }is the heat source
µ = arc efficiency which depends on the welding process
{𝑓𝑞 }is the heat flux V= arc voltage
{𝑓ℎ }is the heat transfer through convection I = arc current
𝐾 = [∭𝑣 ⌈𝐵⌉𝑇 [𝐷][𝐵] 𝑑𝑉 + ∬𝑆 ∗ ℎ[𝑁]𝑇 [𝑁]𝑑𝑆] Arc voltage and arc current are the parameters which can
(21) be adjusted from the welding equipment. The heat source
K is the element conduction matrix model used in this research for weld simulation is the
F is the global force matrix = {𝑓𝑄 } + {𝑓𝑞 } + {𝑓ℎ } double ellipsoidal type model proposed by Goldak [12].
Then
C. Setting Weld Parameters
{𝐹} = [𝐾]{𝑡}
(22) A lot of weld parameters involved in defining a specific
Where {𝑡} is the nodal temperature matrix which in this welding process. The weld parameters that directly
case is unknown. influence the heat input and consequently distortion
produced during arc welding process are arc voltage, arc
The temperature from above equation can be calculated
current, weld speed, weld sequencing, polarity of arc, base
and put into the thermal strain equation.
metal thickness, electrode diameter, joint geometry, and
∈𝑡ℎ = 𝛼∆𝑇 shielding of base metal. The heat supplied to base metal
(23) depends on the intensity of arc and the time base metal
Total strain ∈ = ∈𝑒𝑙 +∈𝑡ℎ (24) receives the heat. There is a very interesting relationship
This strain can be used to find stress and displacement. between arc current, arc voltage and welding speed. As we
now from basic electricity that product voltage and current
IV. METHODOLOGY OF WELD SIMULATION remain the same or in other words power output remains
In this research the base metal used is ASTM A36 steel the same if current is increased voltage drops and if current
plate sample of size 500mm x 100mm x 2mm (L x W x is decreased voltage rises. In order to get an minimum heat
thickness). The finite element tool used for simulation of input welding current should be kept low but at low current
welding process is ANSYS. The dimensions including the welding speed cannot be increased therefore the amount of
thickness of material is kept constant while weld time base metal receives that heat increases. To increase
parameters are pre calculated and assigned respective welding speed, arc current needs to be increased. The
values to reduce heat input during the welding process. The question now arises that what is the optimized welding
number of elements used during welding process speed and welding current gives minimum amount of
simulation has lot of significance as it determines the time distortion for a given base metal thickness, a specific

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 Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan
welding process, minimum diameter of electrode and
certain arc shielding. In this research thickness of base
metal is considered constant that is 2mm. The minimum
diameter of electrode specified for this thickness in shielded
metal arc welding process is 2mm. The welding equipment
used is by Miller USA. The arc current suggested by miller
for above specifications is 35 to 60 ampere. The current can
be increased up to 80 ampere for increasing welding speed.
Keeping in view above variables four weld simulation have
been performed to track down the optimized results as
shown inn table I.
TABLE I
WELD PARAMETERS
Dia of Arc Current Weld
Electrode (Amp) Speed
(mm) (mm/sec)
Case 1 2 50 3 at the start of weld bead. In first step temperature profile of
Case 2 2 60 4 area under the welding torch is read from thermal analysis
Case 3 2 70 5 file. The time steps in structural and thermal analysis are
Case 4 2 80 6 synchronized by programing in ANSYS APDL. The
If the welding process can be varied the diameter of
electrode can be reduced to 0.8mm as in the case of Metal
Inert Gas (MIG) welding process in this case shielding gas
rate and wire speed and feed also come into play and at
least fifty possible outcome of weld parameters need to be
considered for optimized results.
D. Transient thermal analysis
A user subroutine is written in ANSYS APDL to perform
the transient thermal analysis. To simulate welding process
in any finite element based software two things need to be
incorporated, first to create a moving heat source that
applies heat at adequate time intervals so that movement of
heat source should match the actual welding speed. Second
is the addition of filler metal i.e. new elements should be
created at the time of heat application on certain area to
form the weld bead produced by melting electrode. Both
the above mentioned phenomenon is simulated with the
help of programming in ANSYS APDL. A step wise
explanation of user subroutine is as follows. First all the
elements lying in weld bead are selected and deactivated
through ANSYS EKILL command. Then a working plane
is created at the start of weld bead. The elements present in
the area around the working plane are selected to be part of
double ellipsoid heat source depending on their location.
Heat is applied to each element by volumetric heat
generation. All those elements on which heat is applied are
activated. The program checks for heat source completion
i.e. the end of welding process after that working plane is
shifted on step further in the direction of weld axis. All the
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above steps are repeated again until the weld process is
completed. After completion of welding process only time
variable is incremented and the plate is allowed to cool
down. The temperature profile of each step and time for
activation and deactivation of elements is saved for use in
structural analysis.
E. Transient structural analysis
In transient structural analysis same model is used as in
transient thermal analysis but the element type needs to be
replaced from thermal to structural. The procedure adopted
in transient structural analysis is very similar to the
transient thermal analysis. A user subroutine is written in
ANSYS APDL. The steps involved in transient structural
analysis are explained below. First all the elements lying on
weld bead area are deactivated. A working plane is created
temperature applied in the structural analysis produces
thermal strain. Temperature dependent mechanical
properties are already incorporated at the start of structural
analysis which helps in calculating residual stress and
distortion. At the time of temperature application selected
elements on the weld bead are activated. In the next step
working plane is shifted forward as per welding speed of
respective case study. Time is incremented accordingly and
procedure goes on by repeating these steps until welding is
complete. In the cooling phase temperature profile of all
elements is read from the thermal analysis and applied as
input to structural analysis. The reference or room
temperature was set at 25oC at the start of analysis for
thermal strain calculation. Structural analysis of each case
study is performed separately results are stored for
comparison.
V. RESULTS OF THERMAL ANALYSIS
The temperature profile along the width of plate is shown
in Fig 1. At the center of plate along the weld bead
temperature reaches up to melting point but in the close
vicinity at a distance of 2mm, 4mm and 6mm the rise of
temperature is also considerable enough to produce thermal
stresses. Fig 1 also explains the cooling rate of base metal it
can be seen from the figure that all the four temperature
profiles merge after a time period of 300 sec or five
minutes, which means that after five minutes heat affected
zone is at uniform temperature. In Fig. 2 temperature
profile of steel plate is shown at time 200sec in Case 2
when the welding is about to finish.
 Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan
Fig1. Temperature profile along the width of plate
Fig.2 Temperature profile after 200 sec
VI. RESULTS OF STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
In welding of thin plates buckling or out of plane
distortion is more dominant than the longitudinal or
transverse distortion. This phenomenon can be seen in the
distortion profile of sample plate as shown in Fig.3. In table
II the maximum and minimum values of distortion for case
2 are tabulated. The comparison of these values also reveals
that buckling of plate or distortion in z direction is more
than the transverse (y direction) and longitudinal (x
direction) distortion. The main purpose of this research was
to calculate the optimized welding speed and arc current
that produces minimum distortion in sample plate under
study. Also the results need to be validated with actual weld
samples. In the next section comparison is drawn between
buckling distortion produced in all four case studies, also a
graph between actual and simulated results is shown.
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Vol. 20(SI) No.II(S)-2015
Fig.3 Final displacement of steel plate in z direction (Case 2)
TABLE II
TOTAL DISPLACEMENT IN STEEL PLATE
Displacement
X (mm) Y (mm) Z (mm)
Maximum
0.29 0.015 1.42
value
Minimum
-0.63 -0.074 -9. 14
value
VII. COMPARISON OF RESULTS
As mentioned earlier that in thin metal plates buckling
or out of plane distortion is more dominant therefore
comparison is made between buckling of plate in all four
case studies. The longitudinal and transverse distortion can
also be compared but their value is small enough to have
any substantial difference on any welded part. In Fig. 4
buckling is plotted against the length of plate. From the
results it can be inferred that in case 1 and case 4 large
amount of distortion is produced. In case 1 heat input is less
but the duration of welding process has increase due to
slow welding speed. If we compare the welding time of
case 1 that is 167 seconds with case 2 which is 125
seconds, the difference is 42 seconds so the plate in case 1
receives heat for a longer period of time at melting point
temperature. In case 4 the welding time is 83 seconds
which is very less compared to case 1 but extra amount of
current has produced more heat resulting in distortion of the
plate. For the validation of simulated data an actual weld
samples have been prepared. The distortion of these
samples have been measured and compared with simulated
results. The actual and simulated results for case 2 are
shown in Fig. 5.
 Technical Journal, University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Pakistan Vol. 20(SI) No.II(S)-2015

Distortion/Buckling of Plate 5
IX. FUTURE WORK
0 The welding parameters studied in this research are
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 focused mainly on thermal influencing factors of distortion
-5 control in thin metal plates. The mechanical parameters
(mm)

such as use of jigs and fixtures and the effect of clamping

-10 force on weld distortion have already been studied such as
research work by C. Lui [13] and Quan Sheng Liu [14].
-15 These parameters can be combined with application of jigs
Length of Plate (mm)
and fixtures to develop a hybrid approach with combination
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 of mechanical and thermal parameters to study distortion
produced during welding.
Fig. 4 Plate buckling comparison case study 1-4
REFERENCES
Actual vs Simulated Results [1] Brickstad Band Josefson BL [1998] A parametric study of
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[2] Fanous I F, Younan M Y and Wifi A S [2002], 3 D finite element

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(publication).
-5
(mm)

[3] Teng T and Chang P [1998], Three-dimensional

-10
Length of Plate (mm)
Case 2 Actual
Fig. 5 Plate buckling comparison actual and simulated
VIII. CONCLUSION
Welding simulation of 2mm ASTM A36 steel plate is
performed using finite element tool ANSYS. The heat
source application and addition of filler metal is achieved
by writing a user subroutine in ANSYS APDL. A couple
field thermo-elastic analyses are performed for four
different cases. Important welding parameters such as
welding speed and arc current are studied to find their
effect on overall distortion of welded part. It has been
concluded that an optimum value of arc current and
welding speed can reduce the distortion in thin metal plates.
There is no linear relationship between welding speed and
distortion produced due to welding, as the results of this
research have shown that amount of distortion is high at
both low and high welding speed (case 1 and case 4
respectively). Similarly a relation cannot be developed
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during welding. With the advancement in computer
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