Finite element based parametric study on the characterization of weld process moving heat source parameters in austenitic stainless steel

In this paper, significant aspects of weld process double ellipsoidal moving heat source geometric parameters are investigated. A three-dimensional finite element analysis is performed for AISI 304 stainless steel thin cylindrical components. During simulations, a sequentially coupled thermo-metallurgical-mechanical analysis is employed for sixteen different geometrical conditions of heat source model. The results reveal that there is a marginal affect on weld pool size and shapes, temperature distributions with the variation in moving heat source geometric parameters; whereas no influence on the residual stress distributions. Moreover, the validity of the numerical simulation results is validated through full-scale shop floor welding experiments.