Dimensions Effect of the Rotating Fluid Zone on the Results when CFD Modeling of Friction Stir Welding

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of the shape and size of rotating fluid region on the results of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model of friction stir welding (FSW). Accordingly, 3D time-dependent CFD based model was used to simulate friction stir welding of aluminum alloy AA2014-T6. A rotating fluid region was proposed to represent the Thermo-mechanical affected zone (TMAZ) in the model where the temperature distribution within the materials being welded together has been critically analysed. By using different shapes and dimensions for the fluid region, a number of numerical experiments has been carried out. The results revealed that the thermal profile for the circular zone indicates the best agreement among the other with the experimental thermal profile. Additionally, a semi-empirical equation was developed to calculate the maximum temperature based on the dimensions of TMAZ.