WELD POOL CONVECTION AND EXPANSION DUE TO DENSITY VARIATIONS

Abstract
Natural convection and volume expansion can occur in a weld pool due to density variations caused by the heat input during welding. In the present study a steady-state, two-dimensional model of heat transfer and fluid flow incorporating density variations was developed, and three different cases were studied: (1) no volume expansion, (2) volume expansion due to the density variation caused by superheating, and (3) volume expansion due to the density variation caused by both melting and superheating. The effect of weld pool expansion on the resultant weld depth/width ratio was demonstrated, and a simple experiment was conducted using wax to provide evidence for volume expansion due to density variation caused by melting.

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