Effect of aerodynamic drag force on liquid metal convection in GTA welding

GTA 용접시 발생하는 용융금속의 유동에 미치는 공기역학적 향력의 영향

The weld pool convection problem that occurs during the stationary GTA welding has been studied, considering the four driving forces for weld pool convection, i.e., the electromagnetic force, the buoyancy force, the aerodynamic drag force, and the surface tension force at the weld pool surface. In the numerical simulation, the difficulties associated with the irregular moving liquid-solid interface have been successfully overcome by adopting a Boundary-Fitted Coordinate system. In the experiments to show the validity of the numerical analysis, a deep periphery and shallow centerpentrated weld pool shape was observed from the etched specimen. It could be revealed that this type of weld pool shape could be simulated, only when some of aerodynamic drag force distributions are considered. Although slight disagreement arose, the calculated and the observed weld pool shapes were in a reasonable agreement.