Parametric studies of friction stir welding by commercial fluid dynamics simulation

Abstract

In previous work, some of the authors have demonstrated that a 2-D model using a commercial fluid dynamics (CFD) code and an appropriate user defined viscosity law can accurately capture many of the trends observed in friction stir welding (FSW). The fully thermo-mechanically coupled simulations may be run in a few hours on a PC based system. The low computational cost for this model enables rapid assessment of the effects of various material properties and the criticality of inclusion or exclusion of some property details. In the present study, the effects of varying material properties and process parameters, on the trends in x-axis forces and potential weld defect formation (via material flow pattern) are studied. The model trends are compared to experimental observation wherever possible.