COMPARISON OF 2D AND 3D WELDING SIMULATIONS OF A SIMPLE PLATE

Computer analysis of the welding process can now be reasonably carried out in 3D for many simple geometries. This allows direct comparison with more conventional 2D approximations for common heavier-walled joints. Multipass plate butt weld examples are presented, using a range of analysis techniques based on commercial finite element software and the results compared to one another. This project has application to a larger effort to understand the relationship between far-field displacement control boundary conditions and weld residual stress fields. Heat source, high temperature material property, constitutive and element birth and death modeling are also addressed.