Inverse Thermal Analysis of Steel Welds Using Solidification-Boundary Constraints

Inverse thermal analyses of structural steel deep-penetration welds are presented. These analyses employ a methodology that is in terms of numerical-analytical basis functions and constraint conditions for inverse thermal analysis of steady-state energy deposition in plate structures. These analyses provide parametric representations of weld temperature histories that can be adopted as input data to various types of computational procedures, such as those for prediction of solid-state phase transformations and mechanical response. In addition, these parameterized temperature histories can be used for inverse thermal analysis of welds corresponding to other welding processes whose process conditions are within similar regimes. The present study applies an inverse thermal analysis procedure that uses three-dimensional constraint conditions whose two-dimensional projections are mapped within transverse cross sections of experimentally measured solidification boundaries.