High temperature indentation test to improve constitutive model for welding simulation

The high temperature gradients experienced during fusion welding lead to a local dilatation and metallurgical transformations that generate inhomogeneous plastic deformation, residual stresses and distortions in the welded parts which can affect the service life of the structures. To predict such residual stresses and distortions, finite element analysis is nowadays widely used. This work reports a 3D finite element model for welding simulation. The proposed model is based on semi coupled thermo-mechanical analysis using a double ellipsoidal model of heat source. Firstly, a disk heated in its central zone is investigated. Secondly the validation concerns the simulation of a fully 3D two pass butt weld. The idea in this work concerns the calibration of the heat source parameters with the help of the inverse analysis to improve the heat flow predictions. For the stress analysis, an annealing temperature is introduced to force the material to lose its hardening memory above a given temperature. The predicted residual stresses as well as the predicted distortions are found to be sensitive to the annealing temperature.