Modeling of Melt Flow and Heat Transfer in Stationary Gas Tungsten Arc Welding with Vertical and Tilted Torches

Shahid Parvez; Md Irfanul Haque Siddiqui; Masood Ashraf Ali; Dan Dobrotă

doi:10.3390/ma14226845

Modeling of Melt Flow and Heat Transfer in Stationary Gas Tungsten Arc Welding with Vertical and Tilted Torches

Materials (Basel). 2021 Nov 12;14(22):6845. doi: 10.3390/ma14226845.

Authors

Shahid Parvez¹, Md Irfanul Haque Siddiqui¹, Masood Ashraf Ali², Dan Dobrotă³

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 16273, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Engineering, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550024 Sibiu, Romania.

Abstract

A 3D numerical simulation was conducted to study the transient development of temperature distribution in stationary gas tungsten arc welding with filler wire. Heat transfer to the filler wire and the workpiece was investigated with vertical (90°) and titled (70°) torches. Heat flux, current flux, and gas drag force were calculated from the steady-state simulation of the arc. The temperature in the filler wire was determined at three different time intervals: 0.12 s, 0.24 s, and 0.36 s. The filler wire was assumed not to deform during this short time, and was therefore simulated as solid. The temperature in the workpiece was calculated at the same intervals using heat flux, current flux, gas drag force, Marangoni convection, and buoyancy. It should be noted that heat transfer to the filler wire was faster with the titled torch compared to the vertical torch. Heat flux to the workpiece was asymmetrical with both the vertical and tilted torches when the filler wire was fully inserted into the arc. It was found that the overall trends of temperature contours for both the arc and the workpiece were in good agreement. It was also observed that more heat was transferred to the filler wire with the 70° torch compared with the 90° torch. The melted volume of the filler wire (volume above 1750 °K) was 12 mm³ with the 70° torch, compared to 9.2 mm³ with the 90° torch.

Keywords: GTAW with filler wire; gas tungsten arc welding; heat transfer to the filler wire; melt flow in weld pool; tilted torch; transient heat transfer in GTAW.