Numerical simulation of TIG welding arc using LSFEM method for the magnetic induction computation

Overview & Synopsis

A two­dimensional axisymmetric arc model has been developed to describe heat and mass transfers. It is applied to a tungsten cathode, an argon plasma, and a copper anode. In order to efficiently calculate the magnetic flux density vector, and hence the electromagnetic contributions involved, the Least Square Finite Element Method is used (LSFEM). It gives many benefits : the magnetic flux density vector is directly computed and this method can be easily extended to three­dimensional geometries. Besides, it permits not to make a commonly used oversimplification by imposing a hypothesis on the current density when the magnetostatic problem is solved. Results show that making this assumption slightly modifies the temperature, magnetic field and velocity distributions in the whole domain.