A MULTI-COUPLED FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING PROCESS

• Published in: Acta mechanica solida Sinica Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 86 - 94
• Main Authors: Zhigang, Hou, Yuanxun, Wang, Chunzhi, Li, Chuanyao, Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2006; School of Mechtronic and Automobile Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China%School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430074, China%School of Mechtronic and Automobile Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China; School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430074, China
• Subjects: electrical-thermal coupling; FEA; Finite Element Analysis (FEA); mechanical feature; Resistance Spot Welding (RSW); thermal behavior; thermo-elastic-plastic analysis; 有限元分析; 机械特征; 电热耦合; mechanical feature; electrical-thermal coupling; thermal behavior; Finite Element Analysis (FEA); Resistance Spot Welding (RSW); thermo-elastic-plastic analysis
• ISSN: 0894-9166; 1860-2134
• DOI: 10.1007/s10338-006-0610-z

A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is developed to analyze the transient thermal and mechanical behaviors of the Resistance Spot Welding （RSW） process using commercial software ANSYS. Firstly a direct-coupled electrical-thermal Finite Element Analysis （FEA） is performed to analyze the transient thermal characteristics of the RSW process. Then based on the thermal results a sequential coupled thermo-elastic-plastic analysis is conducted to determine the mechanical features of the RSW process. The thermal history of the whole process and the temperature distribution of the weldment are obtained through the analysis. The mechanical features, including the distributions of the contact pressure at both the faying surface and the electrode-workpiece interface, the stress and strain distributions in the weldment and their changes during the RSW process, the deformation of the weldment and the electrode displacement are also calculated.