Thermal analysis of laser welding for ITER correction coil case

This paper presents the simulation results of 3D finite element analysis (FEA) of laser welding processes for the ITER correction coil case welding; predicts the temperature distribution and compares it with the experimental result to evaluate the impact to the properties of winding pack during the welding process. A specimen of coil case was modeled and simulated by using specialized welding simulation software SYSWELD, Modeling used austenitic stainless steel 316LN as the specimen material and a 3D Conical Gaussian was used as a heat source model. A plate sample was welded before the FE modeling in order to obtain the laser welding parameters and the Gaussian parameters of molten pool. To verify the simulation results, a coil case sample was welded using laser welding with welding parameters that matched the model, and the corresponding temperature values were measured using thermocouples. Compared with the FEA results, it was found that the FEA temperature distribution shows good agreement with the experimental measurements and the laser welding process will not harm the winding pack.