Welding Simulations with

Simufact.welding
SimDay 2013 Szimulcis Konferencia

17th October 2013, Tulip Inn Budapest Millenium

Dr. Gabriel Mc Bain

Virtual welding process design

Temperature development in components and
heat transfer into clampings
Prediction of distortions and residual stresses
during the welding and after unclamping
Are geometrical tolerances met?
Prediction of local material properties
(e.g. hardness, yield stress, phase composition)
Are brittle phases created?
Through-process simulation of manufacturing
chains metal forming welding structural
analysis

simufact.welding is designed for

welding engineers in research,
development and production who do
not have to be experts in numerical
simulation!

Temperature distribution in components and heat transfer into clamping tools

Prediction of distortions during and after clamping and prediction of residual stresses

Minimization of distortions by varying the clamping conditions

Positioning of the clamping devices by hand or via drag and drop

Due to expansion of the weld zone and shrinkage of the cooling material the
gap can change

Gap ?

F?
F?

F?
F?

Simulation of local material properties e.g. changed flow stresses of phase fractions

Process chain welding forming / acc. plastic strains as an indicator for damage
Temperature distribution during welding

Acc. plastic strains during welding

Acc. plastic strains during forming

Implementation of welding distortions into forming analysis

temperature distribution during welding

model: forming of tailored blanks

accumulated plastic strains during forming

accumulated plastic strains after forming

residual stresses after welding

Without forming results

With forming results

Lifting of the cover on the opposide

edge

Simulated without forming results

Accumulated plastic strains after welding

Simulated with forming results

Geometry and Meshing

Weld paths and
Fillermaterial
Clamping- and Boundary conditions
Heat source modeling
Time mangement
Prediction of local material
properties
Postprocessing

Fast definition of weld paths via node selction or by import of a csv-file

with path coordinates
Automatic generation of a FE-mesh for filler material

Clamping devices can be generated automatically

Clamping duration is considered
Contact between base and filler
material

Contact between components and tools:

Spring stiffness C:
Automatic determination of the direction
rectangular to the contact surface

Initial force F:
Automatic determination of the
direction rectangular to the contact
surface

Positioning & orientation

Determination of residual stresses are said to be a quality proof for structural

weld analysis
International Round Robin test (IIW) is used as a reference example
(German standard DIN SPEC 32534-1: Numerical welding simulation Execution and documentation)

2-Layer TIG weld

material

316LNSPH / 316L

voltage

9V

current

155 A

welding velocity

40,2 mm/min

distortion angle
measurement: 0.033
simulation: 0.032

measurement
simulation
(Simufact.welding 3.10)

Two alternative strategies:

W4
W2

W3

W5

W6

W1

A
?
W1
W10
W4
W5

W2

W8

W6
C3

Process :- MAG Welding

Filler Wire Diameter : - 0.8 mm
(Copper Coated MS Wire)

B
?

W3

W7

W9

Filler material provides contact between

parts and is automatically added during
the simulation of the welding process:

Welding
Hefting

After cooling to room temperature

+2.13 mm

+1.24 mm

 Simufact.welding offers user-friendly welding

simulation
A fast virtual optimization of clamping conditions,
tacking is possible
A coupling of Simufact.welding and
Simufact.premap allows a prediction of the
phase composition during and after welding
A coupling of Simufact.welding and
Simufact.forming allows process-chain modeling
Large industrial structures can be analyzed and
optimized

Thank you very much for your attention!

attention!
simufact engineering gmbh
Tempowerkring 3
21079 Hamburg
Tel.: 040-790 162-0
Fax: 040-790 162-22
office@simufact.de
www.simufact.de