Contributions of numerical modelling to the optimisation of welding processes

Abstract

The welding industry has not been excluded from the beneficent invasion of numerical simulation which, by allowing modelling of metal and mechanical behaviour, predicts the microstructures that will be obtained and the real residual stresses. Based on codes of calculation on finite elements, these evaluations can even establish the risk of brutal rupture or the fatigue behaviour of a given structure. As a consequence, the prediction of residual distortions opens the way for the creation of qualitatively optimised structures, created by means of optimised welding processes.