An integrated numerical approach to simulate the filler deposition and the shape distortions in gas metal arc welding

This article presents a numerical sequential approach to predict the geometry of the weld line, the heat transfer, the dimension of the heat-affected zone, and the stress-strain fields in automated gas metal arc welding (GMAW). The integrated simulation approach has been implemented by using commercial software tools, and it has been applied to simulate nine welding cases study. The achieved outcomes have been compared to the measurements and the microscope observations of weldings produced experimentally, in order to validate the prediction capability of the model with respect to the filler material deposition, the heat-affected zone size, and the distortion of the welded materials.