Numerical simulation of heat transfer during deep penetration laser beam welding

A two-dimensional model for the simulation of the temperature distribution during deep penetration laser beam welding of thin sheets is presented. The temperature dependence of the material properties is considered and the influence of the convective heat transfer is taken into account based on a numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. For the steady state, the computation is carried out using a finite difference scheme on staggered grids. Verification of the model was performed with welding experiments on thin sheets of different types of steel. The numerical results are compared with the surface temperature distribution measured with a high-resolution infrared thermography system.