Numerical Modeling of Friction Stir Welding: A Comparison of Alegra and Forge3

The objective of this research was to evaluate the capabilities of ALEGRA, a Sandia National Labs hydrocode, and Forge3, a Transvalor S.A. product, to accurately model the Friction Stir Welding Process. ALEGRA and Forge3 are discussed in light of the inherent challenges of modeling Friction Stir Welding, and a rotational boundary condition is added to ALEGRA. Results are presented from Friction Stir Welding modeling outputs from both ALEGRA and Forge3. ALEGRA is shown to be incapable of modeling the Friction Stir Welding process, in large part due to its focus on shock propagation, which causes extremely small time steps. Forge3 is shown capable of modeling of the FSW plunge process in a transient manner, but overestimates the temperature profiles 90% to 100% in comparison to experimentally measured values. It appears that the adiabatic boundary condition is the source of much of the error. It is recommended that future work focus on improving estimates of the boundary conditions utilized in the Forge3 model.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Oliphant, Alma H.

• ALEGRA
• Forge3
• Friction Stir Welding
• Numerical Modeling
• Sandia
• Transvalor
• hydrocode
• Modeling
• Modelling
• boundary condition
• Mechanical Engineering

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/26

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1025