Numerical procedure for residual stresses prediction in friction stir welding

AUTHORS:G. Buffa, A.Ducato, L.Fratini
ABSTRACT:    The prediction of residual stresses is a relevant and, under many points of view, still open issue for a proper welding processdesign. In the present paper a 3DFE model, with general validity for different joint configurations, was used to simulate the Friction Stir Welding(FSW) process of butt joints through a single block approach. The model is able to predict the residual stresses by considering thermal actions only, thanks to a new time efficient approach. A good agreement between calculated and experimentally measured data was found; the effectiveness of the presented numerical procedure was evaluated by comparing the calculation times of the proposed method with the ones of already known FE approaches.
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