Thermal model of the Gas Metal Arc Welding hardfacing process

The article presents the application of the CFD FVM model for thermal simulation of the GMAW hardfacing process. The paper focuses on heat transfer aspects of welding process like distribution of temperatures, heat transfer from electric arc, thermal effects of melting and solidifying of metal. Because detailed CFD and thermal analysis of welding process is computationally expensive, the modified, faster approach has been proposed to obtain realizable compromise between accuracy and calculation efforts for engineering heat transfer analysis. It allows getting the thermal simulation closer to engineering practise as a base for structure analysis. The model has been tested and validated against thermography measurements. The procedure of thermography measurements and validation has been presented in the article. Results showed high reliability of proposed approach, particularly for heat transfer around electric arc. The developed model can be applied for various FVM codes and useful as a part of multi physics analysis.