Thermomechanical phase change peridynamic model for welding analysis

In numerical welding modelling, it is critically important to adopt a heat source model that fits the actual welding process since the heat source model has significant influence on the calculation accuracy of the transient welding temperature field, especially near the heat source. An inappropriate source model can produce an overestimated or underestimated temperature field, leading to displacement field errors in the mechanical analysis. In this study, a new nonlinear transient peridynamic model employing a variety of heat source models is developed to predict the temperature distribution and displacement variation. More importantly, as an essential physical phenomenon in heat conduction, phase transformation is considered in the peridynamic model. The importance of how the latent heat in the phase change can affect the temperature distribution and displacement field is also emphasized. The simulation results are compared with the finite element method results. Close agreements are observed which demonstrates the capability of the proposed non-linear transient peridynamic model for thermomechanical phase change analysis for welding modelling.