Temperature histories of structural steel laser and hybrid laser-GMA welds calculated using volumetric constraints

Inverse thermal analyses of structural steel deep-penetration welds are presented. These analyses employ a methodology that is in terms of numerical-analytical basis functions and volumetric constraint conditions for inverse thermal analysis of steady state energy deposition in plate structures. These analyses provide parametric representations of weld temperature histories that can be adopted as input data to various types of computational procedures, such as those for prediction of solid-state phase transformations and mechanical response. In addition, these temperature histories can be used to construct parametric-function representations of thermal histories for welds corresponding to other process parameters or welding processes whose process conditions are within similar regimes. The present study applies an inverse thermal analysis procedure that uses volumetric constraint conditions whose two-dimensional projections are mappings onto transverse cross sections of experimentally measured solidification boundaries.