Title: Application of a simplified simulation method to the determination of arc efficiency of gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and experimental validation

Authors: Sanjivi Arul; R. Sellamuthu

Addresses: Department of Mechancial Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Coimbatore – 641 105, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Mechancial Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Coimbatore – 641 105, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract: To overcome the difficulty of solving a complex heat and fluid flow model of GTAW for predicting temperature distribution, cooling rate and weld pool geometry, a simplified simulation method has been followed in this study. The arc parameters as a measure of the heat distribution required for simulation were experimentally obtained from the arc images. The net heat flux was determined by the application of a simplified simulation method as opposed to calorimetric/genetic algorithm techniques used previously and validated experimentally. The arc efficiency was calculated as the ratio of net heat flux to the input power. The heat distribution parameter is found to be a function of current and independent of speed whereas the arc efficiency is independent of both current and travel speed. The value of arc efficiency determined in this study compares well with the data of previous studies, confirming the viability of the simulation method.

Keywords: gas tungsten arc welding; GTAW; numerical simulation; heat flow; arc efficiency; heat distribution; temperature distribution; cooling rate; weld pool geometry; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCMSSE.2011.042824

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, 2011 Vol.4 No.3, pp.265 - 280

Received: 25 Nov 2010
Accepted: 03 May 2011
Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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