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Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

IX International Conference on Computational Heat and Mass Transfer, ICCHMT2016

The Mathematical Model Research on MIG Groove Welding


Process
Peng Jingnana,b, Yang Lixina,b,*
a. Institute of Thermal Engineering, School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering,
Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China.
b. Beijing Key Laboratory of Flow and Heat Transfer of Phase Changing in Micro and Small Scale, Beijing 100044, China.

Abstract
Through analysis the MIG groove welding process and the welding experimental result, a complete two-dimensional
mathematical model of weld section molten pool characteristics was established. Use Gaussian heat source distribution to
describe the weld heat source, introduced the welding speed to establish transient heat source model on the cross section. By
introducing scalar of liquid fraction, mushy region dynamic character which was described using Darcy model proposed for
porous media, and phase change which was taken into account using source-based method, establish a unified liquid and solid
control equation, CFD model was established to simulate transient heat and mass transfer phenomena in welding process. The
effect of surface tension was considered in the molten pool free surface stress model. The reliability of the model was verified by
experiments. The effect of groove angle, groove depth and the welding speed on the molten pool were discussed in this paper.
2016The
TheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Published
Elsevier
2016
byby
Elsevier
Ltd.Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICCHMT2016.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICCHMT2016
Keywords: V groove; MIG welding; Marangoni flow; surface tension

1. Introduction
Scholars study in the numerical simulation of welding for many years, many numerical models have been
developed [1-4]. Traidia [5] developed a unified finite element model for pulsed current GTA welding which dealed
with the cathode, arc-plasma and melting anode together. It was found that the Marangoni effect plays an important
role on the welding pool dynamic. And for a given level of energy, used a pulsed current welding could get a greater

* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 86-10-51684329.


E-mail address: lxyang1@bjtu.edu.cn

1877-7058 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICCHMT2016

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.08.377

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Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

weld pool than mean current. Hu and Guo [6] developed a moving 3D gas metal arc welding model which
considered heat delivery to the metal transfer between droplets and the molten pool. This model reflected a
phenomenon that a crater was opened and close-up in the molten pool because of the droplet impingement and the
hydrostatic force.
Welding of thick metal plate usually needed a groove [7-10]. Hu and Tsai [9] developed a three-dimensional
GMAW welding process model for a thick metal plate with V groove. It was found that the groove could facilitate
the flow of filler metal along the bottom of the groove because of the groove could provide a confined channel, and
it could get a simpler flow pattern than without a groove because of the V groove has a smooth effect.
A lot of factors who researched the welding with V groove have been systematically studied. Chen J [11]
developed a new arc welding processes ForceArc to operate in spray transfer mode under lower arc voltage. He
studied the three dimensional weld pool dynamics and the influence of V groove angles on welding of low carbon
structural steel plates used the ForceArc process. It was found that in different angles the main flow pattern was
more or less the same, but velocity, temperature and shape of the weld pool was different. A large V groove could
make the flow of the molten pool to travel downward with heat energy at the front, so could increase the depth of the
weld pool. Cho and Na [12-15] built many arc models for arc heat flux, electromagnetic force and arc pressure with
Abel inversion methods and physical relations. Based on these models, they analyzed weld beads in V-groove
GWAM with and without root gap and the various dynamic molten behaviors for different welding positions. They
found that without the root gap, in vertical-upward position it could get melt-through beads but it was difficult to get
full-penetration beads in the flat and overhead position with a 1 mm root gap, in different welding positions could
find the molten pool overflow patterns, but it should increase the welding speed to avoid the overflow patterns
because in the vertical-upward position it could get full-penetration beads.
In this paper, a two-dimensional mathematical model and a moving Gauss heat source model which the heat
source decayed over time were established. Introduced scalar liquid fraction and Darcy source, built unique
continuity equations, momentum equations and energy equations for both liquid and solid phases. The model was
applied to V groove welding process of AISI 304 stainless steel. Through compared the simulation and experiment
result to verify the model. Heat source distribution parameters affecting the Gaussian heat source are discussed.
Then, the groove angle, depth and welding speed were discussed.
Nomenclature
A
fl
Tm
Tl
q

constant in surface tension gradient


liquid fraction
melting temperature
solidification temperature
heat source distribution parameters
arc thermal efficiency effectively
coefficient of thermal expansion
pure metal surface tension

2. Mathematical model
2.1. Mathematical model
Based on the analysis of the physical process of MIG welding, this paper proposed two dimensional weld molten
pool characteristics of the mathematical model. Model contained the cross section of transient electric arc heat
source model, molten pool CFD model and mechanical model on the surface of the molten pool. Through the typical
V groove welding process experiment result to verify the accuracy of the models.
Heat source model: Because of the arc heat source moved in the welding process, so the effect on the cross section
of heat source model includes two parts: the spatial distribution of heat source and variation law with time.
According to the heat source on the space distribution characteristics, the Gauss heat source model was established.
Arc heat source to the workpiece is through the part area, assumed that 95% of heat energy is in a heating area, this
heating area is called heating spots, the heat distribution on the heating spots can use Gaussian function to

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Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

describe.The heat flux from the center of spots is as follows. Where q(r) represents the heat flux which the distance
is r from the center of spots.
r2

3Q - 2V q2
e
S R2

q r

(1)
In the actual welding process, with the movement of the welding torch, heating spots gradually all removed from
a particular cross section, the heat source intensity on the cross-section decreases to zero over time. When welding
torch is moving in a constant speed, the heat source intensity change with time, according to the linear rule changed
over time, namely:
q(t)=-q(0)(t-t0)/ t0 t<t0
(2)
q(t)=0
t>t0
where q(0) represents the heat source intensity at initial moments, t0 represents the time that the heat source effect
on the cross section. The time t0 is calculated from the heating spot radius R and welding speed V using the
following relations:

t0

R /V

(3)
Molten pool CFD model: In the process of MIG welding, molten drop heats and keeps melting metal and make the
molten pool shape change. Melting process is actually a phase-change problem with moving boundary. Regardless
of the difference between the solder and substrate material, assumes that the solid and liquid density is equal. The
mixing velocity U represents solid region and liquid region velocity. Introduce liquid fraction scalar, enthalpy
source into energy conservation equation and Darcy source into momentum conservation equation, set up unique
continuity equation, momentum conservation equation and energy conservation equation, which enable solid region,
liquid region and mushy region to be solved by fixed grids [16].
The continuity equation is:

wU
 UU
wt

(4)

The momentum equation is derived as:


U

wU
 UU U
wt

2P

 U I  P U  U T 
 N U I  F
3

(5)

where represents dynamic viscosity, represents expansion of viscosity which is assumed to be zero. F is
Darcy source item, and tends to zero as the liquid fraction is tends to one. So the mixture velocity approaches to
that of the solid. So:

1- f L

f L3  H

Amush U

(6)

where and Amush are arbitrary constants, according to the different metal materials. For stainless steel materials,
they was taken as Amush = 6104kg/(m3s), = 110-3.
The energy equation is:

w
wf
U H  UUH OT  U L L
wt
wt
H fL H L  fS HS

(7)
(8)

Mechanical model on the surface: As above mentioned, in the MIG groove welding process of medium and thick
plate, when the welding current and welding groove is small, the electromagnetic force and protective gas shear
force are small, ignore their influence for the fluid inside the pool. But molten pool heating surface temperature
gradient is large. Usually the surface tension coefficient of metal is a function of temperature [16], so need to
consider the hot surface tension. For metal:

T V m  AV T  Tm

(9)

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Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

2.2. Calculation model


The model used AISI 304 stainless steel which size was 50mm10mm for numerical calculation. Depth of groove
was 8mm, angle of groove were 40 and 50. The symmetry of the geometry and boundary condition were
Considered, calculation model for selecting half of symmetrical geometric model, as shown in figure 1. Material
properties of AISI 304 stainless were shown in Table 1. Boundary conditions were shown in table 3. ABC used
symmetrical boundary condition, DE and CD used the adiabatic boundary condition because the whole heating
process time was short (within 1.5s), on the workpiece surface used the uniform boundary conditions. When the
surface without melting, resistance items in equation (12) made the surface tension (T) didn't work. When the
position of heat source beyond spot radius, Q automatically changed to zero. The hc in table 3 can be calculated
from the relationship given by Goldak [17]:

24.1u104 T 1.61

hc

(10)

Parameters of welding heat source are shown in Table 2.


Table 1. Material properties of AISI 304 stainless
Symbol
Unit
Value
A
-2E-4
N/(mgK)

kg/m3
7200

0.8
J/kg
2.47E+5

Tm
K
1723
Tl
K
1673
Cp
500
J/(kggK)

1/K
1.0 E-5
Fig. 1. The calculation model

N/m

1.8

W/(mgK)

24.2

Table 2. Parameters of welding heat source


I(A)
210

U(V)
26

V(mm/s)
5

0.75

Q(W)
4095

q(mm)
2.4

R(mm)
5.88

t0(s)
1.18

Table 3. Boundary condition


Region

ABC

CD

DE

AGFE

(T)

wV wx 0 wT wx 0
0
wT wy 0
0
wT wy 0
0
hc T  Tf  Q O wT wy

At initial moments, in ABG region was the liquid metal and the melting temperature, other region was the solid
metal and 300K. Calculation used unstructured grids. After the grid independent verification, grid dimension was
0.1 in V groove area, other area was 0.2. The grid scale refinement in proportion to the rate of 1.2, make sure the
melting zone had sufficient number of the grid to describe the flow. Figure 2 represents the schematic of mesh. The
grid model unit number is 13567. Use COMSOL[18] to simulation, and the time step was 0.001s. The next time step
calculation continued until the relative residues of all physical variables less than 0.01 in the last time step
simulation. The temperature of the molten pool was still higher than melting temperature after stop heat, molten
pool kept changing, so the computation time is longer than 1.5s.

Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

3. Model Validation
3.1. Confirmatory experiment
Select the same parameters as the numerical calculation to do experiment. Figure 3 is the experimental system, it
included: MIG welding machine, protect cylinders, workpiece and so on. Figure 4 is the experimental result. Two
samples were obtained by cutting the workpiece. Though metallographic grinding, the sample cross section could
get the molten pool shape.


Fig. 2. Schematic of mesh

Fig. 3. The experimental system

Fig. 4. Result of experiment

Result: The sample cross section shape of molten pool as shown in table 4. The experiment indicated that on the
molten pool shape were basically identical for the same groove angle. Experiment result showed that the molten
pool could be divided into two parts: A and B, measured the parameters of the molten pool, the results are shown in
table 5.
Table 4. Shape of different V groove
Angle

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

40

50
Characteristic parameter

Comparison with numerical simulations: Figure 6 comparisons shape of molten pool between the experimental
and simulation result in different angle. The curve on the right side was simulation result. Due to the transient
simulation of molten pool was by the initial V groove molten pool over time through the evolution of solidification
and melting, the curve in the figure was constituted by the molten pool outer boundary of all time, so it could
compare with the experimental result.
In Figure 5, the shape of molten pool of the experimental and simulation result had the similar characteristics, but
had some differences about morphology. In section A, the molten pool bottom surface shape of experiment was a
straight line, it evolved to a curve in the edge. The molten pool bottom surface shape of simulation was a continuous
quadratic curve. In section B, the molten pool of simulation was same as the initial molten pool, but the molten pool
of experiment had a smaller scale out on the basis of the initial pool. Analysis of the reason, the shape difference of
section B was due to the temperature of molten drop when enter the V groove was far higher than the melting
temperature, lead to the base metal at the bottom was melting. We assumed the initial molten drop filled the V
groove at melting temperature, due to thermal conductivity, the bottom of V groove immediately solidification. The
shape difference of section A was due to at the actual melting process the metal solution on the edge of the pool at
the top of the triple point was affected by surface tension and produce contact angle made the surface morphology
change and affected the internal flow of the molten pool and appearance. We did not consider the influence of the
contact angle in the numerical model, assumed that the molten pool surface was horizontal.

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Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

Table 5 shows the comparison of the molten pool shape between the experiment and simulation. It was found that
the value of h1 showed some difference, the value of simulation was slightly bigger than experiment, the relative
error less than 3%. The relative error of the largest weld width between simulation and experiment was less than 3%.
Considered the parameters of different molten pool had certain fluctuation, the difference of weld width which was
the biggest effect on the welding characteristic was smaller. Based on the above analyses, the two-dimensional
mathematical model of molten pool could well predict the molten pool morphology of V groove MIG welding.
Table 5. Parameters of the molten pool
w1 (mm)

40

50

w2(mm) h1(mm)

h2(mm)

Section 1

10.56

3.82

2.77

5.23

Section 2

10.58

3.92

2.79

5.21

Section 3

10.62

3.74

2.78

5.22

Average

10.59

3.83

2.78

5.22

a) 40

Simulated result

10.82

3.72

2.84

5.16

Relative error
Section 1
Section 2

2.20%
12.31
12.27

2.79%
4.64
4.56

2.15%
3.11
3.06

1.15%
4.89
4.94

Section 3

12.24

4.62

3.09

4.91

b) 50

Average
Simulated result
Relative error

12.27
12.46
1.52%

4.61
4.54
1.52%

3.09
3.14
1.73%

4.91
4.86
1.09%

Fig. 5. Comparison of simulated and


experimental molten pool shape

4. Numerical Result Analsis


Comparison of the numerical results under the different conditions, the characteristics of molten pool shape,
welding speed and heat affected zone area were discussed in detail. The values ofw1/w2 and h1/h2 were used to
analysis the change of molten pool in different conditions. The heat affected zone area meant the difference between
the final molten pool area and the initial molten pool area values. The UG software was used to fit the molten pool
shape curve, then construct surface to obtain the area.
4.1. Groove angle
In this part, the value of groove depth was 8 mm. To insure the results were accuracy, the analysis was done in
two different welding speeds, which were 4 mm/s and 5 mm/s. The range of groove angle was 30 degrees to 70
degrees.
Figure 6 illustrates the molten pool shape in different groove angles. According to previous analysis, with
increase of the groove angles, the molten pool was wider. The value of w1/w2 decreased and the value of h1/h2
increased. This due to the initial molten pool area increased. Gaussian heat source acts on the surface of molten pool,
quantity of heat on part A was more than that on the part B, the value of h1 was bigger. As the Marangoni and
buoyancy flow, the heat pass down, the rate of w1 rise was slower than w2. As the angle increased, the heat affected
zone area decreased first and then increased. Because of the increase of the angle, the initial molten pool area
increased, the quantity of heat also increased, lead to the result that more metal around the groove can be melted.
12

3.5

0.7

3.0

0.6

2.5

w1/w2 0.5
h1/h2
0.4
60 70

30
35
40
45
50
6

4
2
0

x-axis(mm)

a)

55
60
65
70
8

10

2.0

30

40

50

angle ()

b)

S (mm^2)

13

0.8

h1/h2

0.9

4.0

w1/w2

4.5

y-axis(mm)

10

11
10

V=4mm/s

9
8
7

30

40

50

60

angle ()

c)

70

363

4.5

0.9

8.0

4.0

0.8

7.5

3.5

0.7

30
35
40
45
50
6

4
2
0

55
60
65
70

x-axis (mm)

3.0

w1/w2
h1/h2 0.6

2.5

0.5

2.0

10

30

40

50

60

70

angle ()

d)

h1/h2

Area (mm^2)

10

w1/w2

y-axis (mm)

Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

0.4

7.0
6.5

V=5mm/s

6.0
5.5
5.0

30

40

50

60

angle ()

e)

70

v)

Fig. 6. Molten shape in different groove angles

4.2. Groove depth

7
6

6
4mm
5mm
6mm
7mm
8mm

4
2
0

4
w1/w2
h1/h2 3

x-axis(mm)

5
4

3
2

10

a)

7.6
7.2

6.4

6.0

w1/w2 4
h1/h2

5.6

6
4mm
5mm
6mm
7mm
8mm

4
2
2

x-axis(mm)

3
2

10

h1/h2

Area(mm^2)

depth(mm)

d)

depth(mm)

c)

10

V=4mm/s

6.8

b)

w1/w2

y-axis(mm)

depth(mm)

8.0

S (mm^2)

h1/h2

10

w1/w2

y-axis(mm)

In this part, the value of groove width was 2.91 mm. To insure the results are accuracy, the analysis was done in
two different welding speeds, which were 4 mm/s and 5 mm/s. The range of groove depth was 4 mm to 8 mm.Figure
7 describes the analysis of the molten pool in different groove depth. With the groove depth increase, the molten
pool became wider, the value of h1/h2 and w1/w2 decreased. As the groove depth increased, the growth rate of h1
was slower than h2. On the whole, with the depth increased, the heat affected zone area showed a trend of increase.

5.2

4.4

V=5mm/s

4.8
4

e)

depth(mm)

f)

Fig. 7. Molten shape in different groove depth

4.3. Welding speed


In this part, the groove angle were 40 degrees, the groove depth was 8 mm. The range of the welding speed was 3
mm/s to 7 mm/s.
The analysis of different welding speed is shown in Figure 8. With the welding speed increased, the molten pool
was narrower. Because the welding speed increased, the heat source moving speed became faster, so lesser metal
around the groove to be melted. These also resulted in the heat affected zone area decreased. The value of h1/h2 and
w1/w2 became smaller. With the molten pool became narrower, the decrease rate of w1 is faster than w2, the same
as h1 and h2.
5

0.7

14
12

w1/w2
h1/h2 0.6

0.5

0.4

Initial molten pool


3mm/s
4mm/s
5mm/s
6mm/s
7mm/s

4
2
0

x-axis(mm)

a)

h1/h2

w1/w2

y-axis(mm)

welding speed (mm/s)

b)
Fig. 8. Molten shape in different welding speed

Area(mm^2)

10

10
8
6
4
2

welding speed (mm/s)

c)

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Peng Jingnan and Yang Lixin / Procedia Engineering 157 (2016) 357 364

5. Conclusions
The two-dimensional mathematical model of the molten pool was developed to investigate and numerically
simulate the MIG welding processing.
1. The molten pool shape of V groove welding cross section could be divided into two parts which had obvious
different shape features. The molten pool shape of each cross section was basically the same.
2. A complete mathematical model of weld section molten pool characteristics was established, including Gauss
heat source model, CFD model of the molten pool and calculation model.
3. Analysis the molten pool shape between equilibrium diagram and simulation result, the molten pool shape was
similar. The error of molten pool width was less than 3%. The accuracy of the mathematical model was verified.
4. With the increase of the groove angle, the molten pool became wider, and same as groove depth. The molten
pool became narrower when the welding speed was bigger. In actual welding process, according to the groove angle,
groove depth and welding speed, we should choose appropriate parameters
Acknowledgements
Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51376022).
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