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Distortion simulation of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) processes for automotive body assembly

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Abstract

Welding-induced distortion is a major concern in the assembly of automotive components. Finite element-based welding simulation plays an important role in predicting the distortion so that the welding process can be modified during the design phase to alleviate the distortion experienced in production. In this work, gas metal arc welding (GMAW)-induced distortion was modeled and simulated for two HSLA steel welding cases as commonly seen in automotive body assembly. First, a “straight-clamshell” GMAW process was simulated and then validated against the measured temperatures, displacements, clam** forces due to thermal stresses at clam** positions, and weld penetration under various welding conditions. The numerical model captured the different strategies of welding directly versus tacking the parts first, resulting in 8 mm versus less than 2.0 mm of maximum distortion respectively. By overlaying resulting shapes from both simulation and laser scan measurement, it was confirmed that simulation can predict welding-induced distortion with sufficient accuracy. The simulation capability was further evaluated through a complete production case of truck rails welding. The same methodology was applied to compare simulation results (shape) with laser scan measurement data. Both simulation and test results confirm that welding distortion is greatly affected by boundary conditions, welding parameters, and welding sequence, all of which support simulation of the dimensional impact of welding in the manufacturing process design stage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Andrew Galant and Nathan Thompson for their assistance in instrumentation for the welding experiments and Aaron Steele for providing software and hardware support with the laser scanner and point cloud processing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Motors Global R&D Center, Warren, USA

    Wayne Cai, Miguel Saez, Patrick Spicer, Debejyo Chakraborty, Richard Skurkis & Blair Carlson

  2. MSC Software and Hexagon AB, Surrey, UK

    Fernando Okigami & Jeff Robertson

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  1. Wayne Cai
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  2. Miguel Saez
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  3. Patrick Spicer
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  4. Debejyo Chakraborty
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  7. Fernando Okigami
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Correspondence to Wayne Cai.

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Cai, W., Saez, M., Spicer, P. et al. Distortion simulation of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) processes for automotive body assembly. Weld World 67, 109–139 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-022-01369-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-022-01369-3

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