Steady-state laser cutting modeling

We present a global self-consistent model of the laser cutting process where we have taken into account the main parameters of the process that are the laser beam intensity distribution, the thermal phenomena controlling the melt parameters, the fluid, both cutting gas and melt hydrodynamics, and the local equilibrium of the geometry of the cutting front. This steady state approach provides us with different fluid velocities, surface temperature, and molten layer thickness along the front profile, and as a matter of fact available cutting thickness for a set of given input operating parameters. In a second step, data provided by these simulations are compared with experiments and a good correlation is observed. (C) 2003 Laser Institute of America.