Simulation and experiment on standoff distance affecting gas flow in laser cutting

A three-dimensional axial symmetrical model of laser cutting is established by adopting N–S equation and RNG k–ε onflow model in the paper, and numerical simulation is put up to analyze the flow field of shield gas in cutting slot. The investigation reveals the law about how standoff distance affects the dynamic characteristic of gas jet in cutting process, and the distribution of pressure and velocity of gas jet with different standoff distances are shown in the study. Two typical subsonic nozzles are designed for the laser cutting experiment. At the end of the paper experimental results are compared with the numerical simulation results.