Welding in the World

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-018-00678-w

RESEARCH PAPER

Determination of parameters of double-ellipsoidal heat source model

based on optimization method
Y. Gu 1 & Y. D. Li 2 & Y. Yong 3 & F. L. Xu 4 & L. F. Su 4

Received: 2 March 2018 / Accepted: 20 November 2018

# International Institute of Welding 2019

Abstract
To determine the parameters of the double-ellipsoidal heat source model (DEHSM) in welding simulations, a technique is developed
to extract the parameters of weld pool shape from the simulation results. The technique is developed based on the knowledge of the
isoparametric transformation and computer graphics, and its validity is verified by a graphic comparison. It is shown that the
technique can effectively extract and reflect the shape of weld pools without interrupting the solution process of the DEHSM
parameters. Second, using this technique in conjunction with the optimization method, an approach is proposed to determine the
DEHSM parameters. Next, using the proposed method, the DEHSM parameters associated with four different welding conditions are
determined. Finally, with these parameters, their corresponding weld widths and penetrations are compared with the measured ones.
The results demonstrate that the proposed method can efficiently determine the DEHSM parameters with a relatively high accuracy.

Keywords Double-ellipsoidal heat source model . Welding temperature . Optimization method . Isoparametric transformation

1 Introduction 8 pffiffiffi !    
>
> 6 3 f Q x 2
y2 z2
>
< qf ¼ pffiffiffi exp −3 2 exp −3 2 exp −3 2
1

The double-ellipsoidal heat source model (DEHSM) [1], πa f bc π af b c

pffiffiffi      
expressed by Eq. (1), utilizes two ellipsoidal heat sources >
> 6 3 f 2Q x 2
y 2
z2
>
: qr ¼ pffiffiffi exp −3 2 exp −3 2 exp −3 2
(Fig. 1) to reflect the characteristics of steep and gentle πar bc π ar b c
welding temperature gradients in the front and rear of the heat ð1Þ
source, respectively. The influence of arc stiffness on the pen-
etration depth can also be considered by introducing a new where qf and qr [W/m3] are the power density distributions
parameter c. Thus, the DEHSM is especially applicable for the inside the front and rear ellipsoids, respectively. Q represents
welding processes with large penetration depths, such as the the effective heat power [W], and Q = ηUI. Here, η, U, and I
groove welding and fillet welding. represent the efficiency, welding voltage [V], and current [A],

Recommended for publication by Commission XV - Design, Analysis,

and Fabrication of Welded Structures

* Y. D. Li 1
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Southwest University
ydl2015@qq.com of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China

Y. Gu 2
School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University,
guying2015@qq.com Chengdu 610031, China
Y. Yong
3
yongyao2015@qq.com Shock and Vibration of Engineering Materials and Structures Key
Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Mianyang, China
F. L. Xu
dns2015@qq.com 4
Sichuan Civil–Military Integration Institute, Mianyang 621010,
L. F. Su China
gry20150708@163.com

respectively; af, ar, b, and c represent geometric parameters of
the front and rear ellipsoids [m]; x, y, and z are the local coor-
dinates of the DEHSM [m]; and f1 and f2 denote the fractions
of the heat power deposited in the front and rear half ellip-
soids, respectively, and satisfying f1 + f2 = 2.
The DEHSM has been extensively used in numerical
simulations of welding, such as gas shielded arc welding,
submerged-arc welding, and electron beam welding.
However, the determination of precise values of the
DEHSM parameters is crucial for the simulation results
of welding temperature [2], and it is also a prerequisite
for obtaining precise simulation results of the welding
residual stresses and distortions [3].
The procedure for determining the values of parameters
of a welding heat source model (WHSM) commonly in-
volves two aspects: (i) criteria for judging whether the
values of the parameters are accurate, and (ii) a method
for determining those values according to the criteria. In
general, the criteria for verifying the values of the WHSM
parameters can be classified into three categories: welding
temperature, welding residual stress, and weld pool shape,
as follows:
1. Determination of WHSM parameters according to the
welding temperature [4–7]. This approach aims at making
the simulated welding temperatures to be consistent with
the measured ones. In this way, the welding temperature
can be directly associated with the WHSM parameters.
However, because of the significantly high temperature
in the weld pool, the thermocouples must only be installed
at a location away from the weld itself, where the welding
temperatures are significantly high and the welding resid-
ual stresses are the most concerned.
2. Determination of WHSM parameters according to the
welding residual stress [8]. According to this criterion,
the simulated welding residual stresses are required to
be in agreement with the measured ones. However, this
method is seldom used because the lengthy computational
time needed for simulating the welding residual stresses.
3. Determination of WHSM parameters of according to the
weld pool shapes [9–13]. By this criterion, the WHSM
parameters are adjusted repeatedly until the calculated
Fig. 1 Configuration of double-ellipsoidal heat source model
Weld World
weld pool shape is approximately identical to the actual
one. This criterion is the widely used standard to verify
the values of the WHSM parameters owing to its high
accuracy and efficiency. Therefore, in this study, this cri-
terion is also employed to determine the DEHSM
parameters.
According to the criteria above, the methods for determin-
ing the WHSM parameters can be generally divided into three
categories: trial and error, regression analysis, and intelligent
computing.
The trial and error method [6, 14, 15] determines the
WHSM parameters through experience. Therefore, its effi-
ciency and accuracy are heavily dependent on experience,
which may result in extensive tentative calculations and
lengthy computation time.
The regression analysis method generally consists of two
steps [9, 10, 14–16]. In the first step, several samples of
WHSM parameters are calculated with regard to weld pool
shapes. Then, a regression analysis method is used to establish
an explicit expression of those parameters about the shape
parameters of weld pool. When the explicit expression is ob-
tained, the WHSM parameters can be directly calculated with
the weld pool shape parameters.
To date, several studies have been conducted to determine
the WHSM parameters by using a regression analysis method.
Wang et al. [13] assumed that the DEHSM was made up of
several point heat sources, and calculated the distribution of
welding temperature by using a theoretical formula proposed
by Rosenthal [16]. Subsequently, the authors established an
expression of the DEHSM parameters with respect to weld
width (W) and penetration (D). However, the prediction error
of their expression can reach up to 30%; thus, further improve-
ment may be necessary for obtaining more accurate results. Li
and Lu [11] established an expression of the DEHSM parame-
ters with respect to W and D for submerged-arc welding. After
that, Guo et al. [12] carried out a similar study for CO2-gas
shielded welding. Rouquette et al. [17] performed a nonlinear
least square analysis to predict the parameters of a Gauss heat
source model for electron beam welding. Jia et al. [18] investi-
gated the effects of the DEHSM parameters on W, D, and the
maximum welding temperature (Tp). Subsequently, the multiple
regression and partial least squares regression method were
both used to establish the expressions of the DEHSM parame-
ters with respect to the weld pool shape parameters.
Using the regression analysis method, when the parameters
of a weld pool are known, the WHSM parameters can be
easily obtained with the regression expression. However, for
a given regression expression, it is only applicable for a spe-
cific weld joint which is deposited by a specific welding pro-
cess. If the welding process or dimensions of weldment
change, a series of parametric analyses is required again for
deriving a new regression expression. For example, the
Weld World
formula established by Li and Lu [11] can only be suitable for
the butt joint with a dimension of 600 mm × 300 mm × 22 mm
and deposited under the welding condition of 1000 A and
32 V. Certainly, more parameters can be introduced into the
regression formulas to solve this problem, such as geometric
parameters and welding process parameters. Nonetheless, this
will also greatly raise the number of the parametric analyses
and increase the complexity of the regression formulas.
To overcome the limitation of the regression analysis meth-
od, Li and Lu [19] employed intelligent computing techniques,
i.e., the artificial neural network and support vector machine
[19], to predict the DEHSM parameters without the limitations
of the welding processes. However, this method has two short-
comings as follows.
1. A large number of samples of various welding process
parameters with regard to W and D are required. In a
previous study [19], 18 measurements were performed
to obtain the samples of W and D under different values
of welding voltage (U) and current (I); however, the mea-
surements of the W and D require complex processes,
such as grinding, polishing, and acid etching.
2. In general, this approach can only be used for the weld-
ments with specific dimensions. For example, all 18 sam-
ples of W and D used in the previous study [19] were
obtained from one type of weldment, and all the weld-
ments had a specific dimension of 600 mm × 300 mm ×
16 mm; therefore, the intelligent computing techniques
based on these samples are only applicable for the welded
joints with the same dimension. For taking into consider-
ation the weldment dimensions, more measurements of W
and D versus various welding processes are required.
To address the above-mentioned problems, an approach
based on optimization methods was developed in this study
to determine the DEHSM parameters. In the proposed meth-
od, neither extensive parametric analyses nor large amount of
samples of W and D were required. Moreover, when the W and
D of a weld joint are known, the DEHSM parameters can be
determined automatically by the proposed method, without
the limitations of weld dimensions and welding conditions.
2 Numerical simulation of welding
temperature
2.1 Parametric modeling of butt joint
Taking the butt joint shown in Fig. 2 as an example, for its finite
element model to be suitable for different welding conditions,
the butt joint was modeled parametrically with the ANSYS
parametric design language. The ANSYS parametric design
language is a scripting language very similar to FORTAN but
can only be compiled in ANSYS. The butt weld was modeled
with first-order hexahedral elements (SOLID70). For the radi-
ative and convective boundary conditions to be defined effec-
tively, a layer of surface effect element (SURF152) was over-
laid on the surface of the finite element model.
A grid convergence study was performed and demonstrat-
ed that relatively fine meshes were required through the thick-
ness of the plate in or adjacent to the weld. For the 16-mm-
thick plate used, 16 layers of elements were required through
thickness to achieve a relatively accurate result of welding
temperature in the weld areas. The size of elements located
in these areas is less than 1 mm × 1 mm × 4 mm. In the areas
away from the weld, the welding temperature gradient is sig-
nificantly smaller. Therefore, coarse meshes, with sizes great-
er than 4 mm, were adopt to reduce the numbers of degrees of
freedoms. The element size used in the longitudinal direction
of the specimen is 4 mm. All the meshes are defined as first-
order hexahedral elements, and every element has a single
degree of freedom, temperature, at each node.
2.2 Governing equation and boundary conditions
The governing equation for transient heat transfer analysis is
given by:
∂T
k∇ 2 T ðx; y; z; t Þ þ qðx; y; z; t Þ ¼ ρc ðx; y; z; t Þ ð2Þ
∂t
where k is the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity
[W/(m °C)], T is the temperature [°C], q is the internal heat
generation rate [W/m3], ρ is the density [kg/m3], c is the spe-
cific heat [J/(kg °C)], t is the time, x, y, and z are the coordi-
nates [m] in the reference system, and ∇ is the spatial gradient
operator.
The general solution of temperature distribution is obtained
by applying the following initial and boundary conditions:
T ðx; y; z; 0Þ ¼ T 0 ðx; y; zÞ ð3Þ
where T0 is the initial temperature and assumed to be 25 °C.
 
∂T ∂T ∂T
k Nx þ Ny þ N z þ qs þ hc ðT −T a Þ
∂x ∂y ∂z
þ hr ðT −T a Þ
¼0 ð4Þ
where Nx, Ny, and Nz are the direction cosines of the outward
drawn normal to the boundary, hc and hr are the convection
Fig. 2 Finite element model of butt weld

radiation heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2 °C)], respectively.
Ta is the ambient temperature and assumed to be 25 °C. qs is
the boundary heat flux, here qs = 0. The radiation heat transfer
coefficient is expressed as:
 
hr ¼ εσ T s 2 þ T a 2 ðT s þ T a Þ ð5Þ
where σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, ε is the effective
emissivity.
Radiation losses are dominating for higher temperatures in
the weld zones, while convection losses for lower temperatures
away from the weld [20]. Therefore, a comprehensive heat
transfer coefficient h was used to take into account both of
convection and radiation:
h ¼ hc þ hr ð6Þ
Substituting Eq. (6) and qs = 0 to Eq. (4), the boundary
condition can be rewritten as follows:
 
∂T ∂T ∂T
k Nx þ Ny þ N z þ hðT −T a Þ ¼ 0 ð7Þ
∂x ∂y ∂z
where h is temperature dependent and is given by Eq. (8) [21].
   variables, which change with the design variables to constrain
0:0668T s W=m2° C 0 ≤ T s ≤ 500° C
h¼   ð8Þ
0:231T s −82:1 W=m2° C T s > 500° C
The comprehensive heat transfer coefficient h and other
temperature-dependent material properties used in the simula-
tion of welding temperature are illustrated in Fig. 3. In addi-
tion, the heat transfer due to fluid flow in the weld pool was
taken into account by an artificial increase in thermal conduc-
tivity above the melting temperature. The latent heat of fusion
was assumed to be 270 J/g between the solidus temperature of
(1440 °C) and the liquidus temperature (1500 °C).
3 Determining the DEHSM parameters based
on ANSYS optimizer tool
3.1 General description of ANSYS optimizer tool
ANSYS optimizer tool has been widely used to deal with the
optimization problems in engineering, such as the topological
optimization [22], optimum cross section of cantilever beams
[23], and optimum initial configuration of grid structures [24].
As long as the optimization problems are modeled mathemat-
ically with appropriate variables and constraint conditions, the
majority of optimization problems in engineering can be usu-
ally solved by the ANSYS optimizer tool. Therefore, the
ANSYS optimizer tool was employed in this study to deter-
mine the DEHSM parameters. Therefore, the ANSYS opti-
mizer tool was employed in this study to determine the
DEHSM parameters.
Weld World
Fig. 3 Temperature-dependent material properties
The optimization variables and constraint conditions re-
quired by the ANSYS optimizer tool are defined with the de-
sign variables, state variables, and the objective function. The
design variables are independent variables, which vary between
their upper and lower bounds. The state variables are dependent
the design requirements. The objective function is also a depen-
dent variable that needs to be minimized. In summary, during
the optimization process, the design variables will be adjusted
automatically using optimization algorithms to minimize the
objective function, under the constraints that the state variables
are not greater than their limits. The designs variables, state
variables, and objective function used to determinate the
DEHSM parameters are detailed as follows:
1. Design variables. For a given welding process, there are
three parameters of the DEHSM that are known: the
welding voltage U, current I, and efficiency η. However,
there are six parameters needed to be solved: four geometric
parameters (ar, af, b, c) and two fractions parameters (f1, f2).
Of these six parameters, ar and af have little influence on
weld widths and penetrations, while the influences of b, c,
f1, and f2 are great [11]. Considering that there is only one
independent parameter in f1 and f2 owing to f1 + f2 = 2, thus
three parameters, i.e., b, c, and f1, were defined to be the
design variables. Simultaneously, the other two parameters,
ar and af, were assumed to be a half and double of the
measured weld width (Wm), respectively: ar = 1/2Wm, af =
2Wm [1]. The initial values of b and c (described as b0 and
c0, respectively) were assigned to be the measured weld
width (Wm) and penetration (Dm), that is b0 = Wm and
c0 = Dm. Because b and c are separately and closely related
to the weld width and penetration (see Fig. 1), the intervals
of b and c were assumed to be [0.8Wm, 1.2Wm] and [0.8Dm,
1.2Dm], respectively. The initial value of f1 was assumed as
0.6, and it can take values in the interval of [0.4, 0.7].
Weld World
2. State variable. The peak value of welding temperature Tp
has a significant influence on the welding simulation re-
sults. A previous study [11] also took Tp as a criterion to
verify the WHSM parameters. Therefore, in this study, Tp
was chosen to be the state variable, and it must not exceed
its upper bound. However, until now very few reports on
the peak temperature in a weld pool have been published,
except for a reference value of about 3000 °C provided by
Radaj [25]. Therefore, the upper bound of Tp was as-
sumed to be 3000 °C in the optimization process.
3. Objective function. In optimization analyses, the objec-
tive function is the variable that needs to be minimized.
Therefore, the deviation between the measured and calcu-
lated weld pool shapes was defined as the objective func-
tion, as expressed in Eq. (9). In this case, the smaller the
objective function is, the more similar the simulated weld
pool is to the measured one.
OBJ ¼ maxfW c −W m jj; Dc −Dm g ð9Þ
where OBJ represents the objective function; Wc and Wm are
the calculated and measured weld widths, respectively, and Dc
and Dm represent the calculated and measured penetrations,
respectively.
The Wc and Dc used to calculate OBJ and the state variable
Tp are all extracted from the welding simulation results.
However, it is necessary for the ANSYS optimizer tool to
update the related parameters automatically, without
interrupting its solution processes. In this case, the relevant
parameters (Wc, Dc, and Tp) must be extracted automatically
through a certain routine. Thus, the DEHSM parameters can
be solved programmatically.
Of these three variables Wc, Dc, and Tp, the extraction of Tp
from the simulation results is relatively simple and easy be-
cause it can be directly obtained from the nodal temperatures.
However, the extractions of Wc and Dc are more complex and
difficult, because their extracting procedure generally involves
knowledge of the finite element method and computer
graphics. For this issue, this paper presents a technique for
extracting Wc and Dc by using a subroutine written in the
ANSYS parametric design language. This technique will be
described in the next section.
When all the steps mentioned above are completed, the
optimization analysis can be executed using the command
BOPEXE.^ In this case, the design variables (b, c, and f1) will
be adjusted automatically under the condition that the state
variable (Tp) does not exceed its upper bound, and the objec-
tive function (OBJ) will be minimized until it is less than a
given allowable tolerance (e). Here, e was assumed to be
1 mm. When OBJ < e, it indicates that the optimization pro-
cess has converged. At this point, the b, c, and f1 obtained will
be the most accurate parameters of the DEHSM. The whole
solution processes of b, c, and f 1 are implemented by
optimization algorithms embedded in the ANSYS optimizer
tool. The first-order optimization algorithm was used in this
study, which has been elaborated by Beck [26]; the reader who
wishes learn more could consult this report.
3.2 Extraction of the weld pool shape from simulation
results
The extraction of the weld pool shape from the simulation
results was indispensable for these approaches that determine
WHSM parameters according to weld pool shapes. For this
issue, Li [27] extracted Wc and Dc by using linear interpolation
between two adjacent nodal temperatures. However, the inter-
polation function used was not linear, even if the finite ele-
ment model was created with first-order hexahedral elements
because the second- and third-order items exist in the interpo-
lation function. As a result, the finite element model has to be
meshed sufficiently fine, so that an accurate result can be
achieved. Consequently, it will lead to a large finite element
model and lengthy computation time.
For this problem mentioned above to be solved and for the
parameters of weld shapes to be extracted automatically, a
technique was developed in this study based on the knowl-
edge of isoparametric transformation and computer graphics,
which will be described in the paragraphs that follow.
Linear hexahedral elements with eight nodes, as shown in
Fig. 4, were commonly used in the simulation of welding
temperature, and their shape functions can be defined by
Eqs. (10) and (11).
1
Ni ¼ ð1 þ ξ0 Þð1 þ η0 Þð1 þ ς 0 Þ ði ¼ 1; 2; ⋯; 8Þ ð10Þ
8
ξ 0 ¼ ξ i ξ η 0 ¼ ηi η ς 0 ¼ ς i ς ð11Þ
where ξi, ηi, and ζi denote the coordinates of node i in a natural
coordinate system.
Supposing that the temperature of each node in the element
shown in Fig. 4 is known, and for a node i, its temperature is
denoted by Ti (i = 1, 2, …, 8), then the temperature at any
point within the element can be obtained by using the shape
function, as expressed as follows:
Fig. 4 Linear hexahedral element
 Weld World

Fig. 5 Layer of elements used to

extract Wc and Dc

8 T m ¼ A þ Bξ þ Cη þ Dξη ð16Þ
T ðξ; η; ς Þ ¼ ∑ T i N i ð12Þ
i¼1
where
Considering that Dc and Wc have to be extracted on a cross
section of a weld bead, then a layer of elements around the 1 4 1 4 1 4
bead was isolated for further investigation, as shown in Fig. 5, A¼ ∑ T i B ¼ ∑ ξ i T i C ¼ ∑ ηi T i D
4 1 4 1 4 1
where the shaded area represents the section to extract Dc and
Wc. It is noteworthy that the shaded area should contain the 1 4
¼ ∑ ξ η Ti ð17Þ
node that has the peak value of temperature; otherwise, Dc and 4 1 i i
Wc will be inclined to the small side.
On the shaded area shown in Fig. 5, the ζ equals unity (ζ = It is worth noting that the boundary of the weld pool de-
1). Thus, substituting ζ = 1 into Eq. (10) yields Eq. (13). scribed in Eq. (16) was established in a normalized coordinate
( system based on a regularly shaped element. However, Dc and
1
N i ¼ 4 ð1 þ ξ0 Þð1 þ η0 Þ i ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4 ð13Þ Wc should be extracted in a global coordinate system for any
0 i ¼ 5; 6; 7; 8 arbitrarily shaped element. Therefore, the boundary of a weld
pool expressed by Eq. (16) should be converted to a form that
Subsequently, substituting Eq. (13) into Eq. (12) gives Eq. is applicable for arbitrarily shaped elements in the global co-
(14). ordinate system. This will be achieved using an isoparametric
4 transformation which is elaborated as follows.
T ðξ; ηÞ ¼ ∑ T i N i ð14Þ Figure 6 shows a diagram of the isoparametric transforma-
i¼1
tion for a quadrilateral element, where the x-axis is perpendic-
There is not any ζ-related item on the left side of the equal ular to the direction of welding, towards the weld toe, and in
sign in Eq. (9), because ς ≡ 1 in the shaded area. accordance with the Y-axis shown in Fig. 5. The y-axis is in
Simultaneously, all ζ-related items on the right side of the accordance with the Z-axis shown in Fig. 5 and towards the
equal sign are equal to zero. This is analogous to the situation weld root.
in which a three-dimensional hexahedron element was simpli- The normalized coordinates can be transformed into global
fied into a two-dimensional quadrilateral element. coordinates using the following equations.
Let T(ξ, η) in Eq. (14) be the material melting point Tm; 4 4
then, the expression of the boundary curve of a weld pool can x ¼ ∑ N i xi y ¼ ∑ N i yi ð18Þ
1 1
be obtained, as described in Eq. (15).
4 where xi and yi are the node coordinates in the global coordi-
T m ¼ ∑ T iN i ð15Þ nate system.
i¼1
On rearranging and expanding Eq. (18), it can be simplified
as follows.
Upon expanding and rewriting Eq. (15), the expression of
the boundary curve of a weld pool can be simplified as fol- 1 1
x¼ MNX y¼ MNY ð19Þ
lows: 4 4
Weld World

Fig. 6 Diagrammatic sketch of

isoparametric transformation for
quadrilateral element: a in
normalized coordinate system, for
regularly shaped element; b in
global coordinate system, for
arbitrarily shaped element

where Based on the relevant theories mentioned above, the pro-

cedure for extracting Dc and Wc is summarized as follows.
M ¼ ½1 ξ η ξη ð20aÞ
2 3
1 1 1 1 1. Extract information of elements.
6 ξ1 ξ ξ3 ξ4 7
N ¼6
4 η1
2 7 ð20bÞ
η2 η3 η4 5 A layer of elements in and adjacent to the weld bead was
ξ 1 η1 ξ 2 η2 ξ 3 η3 ξ 4 η4 isolated and defined as a set of elements, which was denoted
by E. Subsequently, for a given element in E, its element
X ¼ ½ x1 x2 x3 x4  T ð20cÞ number and the first to the fourth node numbers were stored
in the first to the fifth rows of ED, respectively. ED is an array
Y ¼ ½ y1 y2 y3 y4  T ð20dÞ parameter, which is N rows long and five columns wide; being
N the total number of elements in E. For a given element i in
From Eqs. (19) and (20), it can be observed that both two E, its element number is stored in ED(i, 1) and its four node
expressions have the second-order item ξη. Thus, an explicit
numbers are stored in ED(i, 2) to ED(i, 5), respectively.
expression of the boundary of a weld pool as Eq. (16) cannot
be obtained after the isoparametric transformation. 2. Extract node temperature.
Consequently, in the global coordinate system, it is not possi-
ble to calculate the Dc and Wc by the approach of solving
For each element in E, the data stored in ED is used to
extreme values with a partial derivative. For this issue, a series
 0 0 extract its four node temperatures and assign them to TN × 4(i,
of characteristic points ξi ; ηi were selected from the bound- 1) to TN × 4(i, 4). Here, T is an array parameter with a dimen-
ary described by Eq. (16) to represent the weld pool shape. sion of N times four.
After obtaining the coordinates of these characteristic points,
Eqs. (19) and (20) were used to transform them into the global 3. Judge whether the isotherm of T = Tm exists within an
 0 0 element in E.
coordinate system. In this case, ξi ; ηi will be transformed
 0 0
into xi ; yi . Finally, Dc and Wc can be obtained through the For each element in E, the knowledge of computer graphics

0
0
ranges of xi and yi , respectively. is used to judge whether there is an isotherm of T = Tm in a

Fig. 7 Diagram for determining

whether the isotherm of T = Tm
exists in an element: a there is no
the isotherm of T = Tm; b there
exists the isotherm of T = Tm

Fig. 8 Coordinate
transformation: a normalized
coordinate system; b global
coordinate system
quadrilateral composed by its four nodes. The judging proce-
dure commonly has two steps are as follows.
Assign a value to C(i, j) according to T(i, j). Here, C is a
sign function, which is valued by Eq. (21).
8 which are (1, η i1 ), (− 1, η i2 ), (ξ i1 , 1), and (ξ i1 , − 1).
< þ1 T ði; jÞ > T m
C ði; jÞ ¼ −1 T ði; jÞ < T m ð21Þ
: of the element. The two points can be determined by a
0 T ði; jÞ ¼ T m
where T represents the node temperature, Tm is the material
melting point, i is the element number, and j denotes the j-th
node in the element i.
For the element i, the sum of these four items of C(i, j) was
denoted by Sum, as expressed in Eq. (22). When the temperature
of each node in element j is greater than or less than Tm, the
absolute value of Sum equals four, that is ∣Sum ∣ = 4. In this
case, there is no isotherm of T = Tm in the element i, as shown in
Fig. 7a. Otherwise, ∣Sum ∣ ≠ 4, in this case, there is an isotherm
in the element i, as shown in Fig. 7b.
4 on Eq. (23), which are denoted by ξik. After obtaining ξik ,
Sum ¼ ∑ C ði; jÞ ð22Þ
j¼1
For each element in E, determine whether an isotherm of
T = Tm exists according to these steps listed above. After this
procedure is completed, define these elements with the isotherm
of T = Tm as a new set of elements, which is denoted as E′.
4. Extract the coordinates of characteristic points on the iso-
therm of T = Tm.
For each element in E′, a series of characteristic points in
the isotherm of T = Tm were chosen to represent the weld pool
shape. Assuming that the coordinates of characteristic points
 0 0  0 0 
were described by ξik ; ηik where the subscript i and k re-
spectively denote the element number and characteristic point
 0 0 6. Calculated Wc and Dc. After obtaining xik ; yik for all
number, then ξik ; ηik can be extracted by the following two
steps.
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The first step is to determine the intersection points (P1
and P2, see Fig. 8) of the isotherm and element boundary.
For a given element i, substitute ξ = 1, ξ = − 1, η = 1, and
η = − 1 into Eq. (16), then four points will be obtained,
However, only two of them are located at the boundary
judgment criterion, based on whether ∣ηi1∣, ∣ηi2∣, ∣ξi1∣,
and ∣ξi2∣ is less than one. If it is, the associated point is
located at the element boundary; otherwise, it is outside of
the boundary. Here, the intersection points were assumed
to be P1 (ξi1, 1) and P2 (ξi1, − 1), as shown in Fig. 8b.
The second step is to calculate the coordinates of the
characteristic points. Supposing that the characteristic
points were located at an equal interval along the ξ- or η-
axis, the coordinates of these characteristic points can be
calculated according to Eq. (16). Specifically, first calcu-
late the ξ-coordinates of these characteristic points based
0 0
substitute it into Eq. (16), the related η-coordinate will be
obtained. Here, assume that the coordinate of the point k of
 0 0
the element i is ξik ; ηik .
0 ðξi2 −ξi1 Þ
ξik ¼ ξi1 þ ðk−1Þ ðk ¼ 1; 2; ⋯K Þ ð23Þ
ðK−1Þ
where i represent the element number; K is the total num-
ber of characteristic points.
For each element in E′, calculate its coordinates of charac-
teristic points using the above steps.  0 0
5. Coordinate transformation. Substituting ξik ; ηik into
Eq. (19), the corresponding coordinates in the global
coordinate system, denoted by xik ; yik , will be
obtained.  0 0 
elements in E′, Dc and Wc can be obtained from the fol-
lowing equations.
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Fig. 9 Flow diagram for extracting Wc and Dc from simulation results

n 0 o n 0
o
W c ¼ max xik 0
− min xik 0
ð24Þ slightly to the right side, as shown in Fig. 10b. From Fig. 10b, it
k¼1→K i∈E k¼1→K i∈E
is can be observed that the inflections and configurations of the
n 0
o n 0
o
Dc ¼ max yik − min yik ð25Þ two boundary curves are highly consistent.
0 0
k¼1→K i∈E k¼1→K i∈E In summary, from the comparisons shown in Fig. 10, it can
be determined that the proposed approach can precisely ex-
A flow chart was designed to help understand the proce-
tract the shape of weld pools from the simulation results with-
dure for extracting Wc and Dc from the simulation results, as
out interrupting or stopping the solution process of the
shown in Fig. 9.
DEHSM parameters.
To verify the approach described above for automatically
extracting the weld pool from simulation results, the welding
temperature of a butt weld was first simulated. Then, the weld
pool shape was extracted using the proposed approach and 3.3 Verification of the proposed method
compared with that displayed by the ANSYS postprocessor, for determining the DEHSM parameters
as shown in Fig. 10. The curve on the right side in Fig. 10a is
the weld pool boundary that was extracted and sketched based To verify the proposed method for determining the DEHSM
on 180 characteristic points. parameters, four sets of Dm and Wm, measured by Li [27], were
From Fig. 10a, it can be observed that the extracted bound- used to determine the DEHSM parameters using the proposed
ary of the weld pool is consistent with that displayed by the method, and the calculated results are summarized in Table 1.
ANSYS postprocessor. For further comparison, the right part of The Dm and Wm in Table 1 were measured from four butt joints
Fig. 10a was mirrored along the center line and then moved with a dimension of 600 mm × 300 mm × 16 mm, and the butt

Fig. 10 Verification of the
proposed method for extracting
the weld pool shape from
simulated results: a symmetrical
Comparison; b superposition
comparison
joints were deposited by submerged-arc welding with a welding
speed of 16.67 mm/s and a power coefficient of 0.9 [23].
From Table 1, it can be determined that the deviations
between the measured and calculated Dm and Wm are all less
than 1 mm, and the relative errors are not greater than 6%.
This indicates that the proposed method can be efficiently
used to determine the DEHSM parameters.
Figure 11 shows a visual comparison between the simulat-
ed and experimental weld pools. From Fig. 11, it can be ob-
served that: (i) The simulated weld widths and penetrations
are in good agreement with experimented ones; (ii) The ex-
perimental weld widths shrink rapidly at a small depth from
the weld surface, while the simulated weld pools are generally
in the shape of an ellipse. Consequently, the experimental
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weld pools appear more slender than the simulated ones.
This suggests that the ellipsoid-shaped DEHSM probably can-
not capture the characteristics of rapid shrinkage of the weld
width in the case of submerged-arc welding.
3.4 Causes and countermeasures for the failures
of the proposed method
It is worth noting that some failure may occur in the applica-
tions of the proposed method, such as problems when the
object function OBJ exceeds a given tolerance, or that the state
variable Tp exceeds its upper bound. For this issue, two pos-
sible causes and corresponding countermeasures will be
discussed:
Weld World

Table 1 DEHSM parameters determined by the proposed method

I U b c f1 Measured value Calculated value Relative error er

(A) (V) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
jW c −W m j jDc −Dm j
Wm Dm Wc Dc Wm Dm

900 32 9.50 13.33 0.5780 13.34 9.35 13.30 9.30 0.30% 0.53%
1000 30 9.25 15.57 0.6586 13.02 9.80 12.44 9.22 4.49% 5.89%
1000 32 7.58 15.41 0.6147 12.76 10.56 12.12 9.93 5.05% 5.97%
1100 32 6.50 16.00 0.5518 11.50 11.46 12.00 10.96 4.34% 4.36%

af = 0.5Wm, ar = 2Wm, f2 = 2 − f1

1. The lower and upper bounds of the design variables were
inappropriately defined. In the optimization analysis, the
design variables (b, c, and f1) must vary in their domains
to minimize the object function OBJ. However, it could
happen that after traversing all the combinations of b, c,
and f1 between their lower and upper bounds, there is still
no combination of them that can make the OBJ be less
than the given tolerance e. In this case, it will be judged by
the ANSYS to be a situation of non-convergence. To
overcome this issue, the bounds of b, c, and f shall be
expanded, but c should not be larger than the thickness
of the weldment.
2. The constraint conditions used in the optimization process
are too strict. If the tolerance of OBJ is so small that the
optimization result can hardly be obtained. For example,
if OBJ ≤ 0.1 mm, which means that the deviation of the
measured and calculated D and W cannot be greater than
0.1 mm, then smaller element sizes (less than 0.2 mm) and
additional computational time will be required. If the ele-
ment sizes around the weld bead are less than 2 mm, it is
advised that OBJ ≤ 1 mm, and a satisfying result will be
obtained.
4 Conclusions
(1) In this study, a method for determining the DEHSM pa-
rameters was proposed based on the ANSYS optimizer
tool. A comparison of the simulated and experimental
weld pool shapes demonstrates that the proposed method
can efficiently determine the DEHSM parameters with a

Fig. 11 Comparison between the

simulated and experimental weld
pools: a I = 900 A, U = 32 V; b
I = 1000 A, U = 30 V; c I =
1000 A, U = 32 V; d I = 1100 A,
U = 32 V

high accuracy. However, the effects of fluid flow on the
weld pool shapes were not considered in the present
study, therefore, the proposed method may be only valid
for simulations that do not take the fluid flow into
account.
(2) In the optimization process of DEHSM parameters, too
small range of design variables or too strict constraint
conditions will result in the failure of the proposed meth-
od. In this case, expanding the limits of design variables
or relaxing the constraint conditions may help to achieve
an optimization results.
(3) In the case of submerged-arc welding, although the weld
width and penetration can be precisely simulated using
the DEHSM, the ellipsoid-shaped DEHSM still cannot
capture the characteristics of rapid shrinkage of the weld
width. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new heat
source model that suitable for submerged-arc welding in
future research.
Funding information The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
Nos. 51708467 and 51378430) and the Doctoral Found of Southwest
University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 16zx7134).
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