School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University

Module: Finite Element Analysis for Additive Manufacturing

Summative Assessment: Individual Coursework
Submission method and date: as instructed in Canvas VLE

Description of the coursework (100% of the marks for assessment)

Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is an emerging 3D printing technology for building
large-scale metal components [1]. This individual coursework is based on a previous experiment of
WAAM deposition of a single steel wall using a cold metal transfer welding process, which was
carried out at Cranfield University (Figure 1) [2]. Modelling of the original WAAM deposition has
been attempted and published [3]. Here you will use Abaqus to perform a simplified finite element
analysis (FEA) of the WAAM deposition. Only three layers with small length are considered. The
parameters required for the FEA are obtained from Ref. [2] and provided as follows.

Figure 1 Previous experiment for depositing a steel wall using WAAM [2].

Figure 2 shows the geometric parameters of the base plate and deposited wall to be considered in
the FEA. To reduce computational time, the modelled component in the FEA is much shorter than
the actual built component in the experiment, i.e., the wall length was 80 mm and 500 mm for the
model (Figure 2) and the experiment (Figure 1), respectively.
You should use double ellipsoidal heat source (Figure 3) [4][5] in the thermal analysis. Provided
that the heat source travels at a speed of 𝑣 in 𝑧 direction and the coordinates of the start location are
(𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 0), after time 𝑡 the centre of the heat source will be at (𝑥0 , 𝑦0 , 𝑧0 ) where 𝑧0 = 𝑣𝑡. The body
heat flux q in the front (𝑧 > 𝑧0 ) of the heat source can be expressed as
6√3𝑓𝑓 𝜂𝑄𝑇 2 /𝑎 2 2 /𝑏 2 2 /𝑐 2
𝑞= 𝑒 −3(𝑥−𝑥0) 𝑒 −3(𝑦−𝑦0) 𝑒 −3(𝑧−𝑧0) 𝑓
𝑎𝑏𝑐𝑓 𝜋√𝜋
In the rear (𝑧 < 𝑧0 ) of the heat source, we have
6√3𝑓𝑟 𝜂𝑄𝑇 2 /𝑎 2 2 /𝑏 2 2 /𝑐 2
𝑞= 𝑒 −3(𝑥−𝑥0) 𝑒 −3(𝑦−𝑦0) 𝑒 −3(𝑧−𝑧0) 𝑟
𝑎𝑏𝑐𝑟 𝜋√𝜋
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where 𝑄𝑇 is the total power of the electric arc, 𝜂 is the energy absorption efficiency, a and b are the
heat source radii in the lateral and vertical directions, respectively, 𝑐𝑓 and 𝑐𝑟 are the heat source radii
in the front and rear, respectively, 𝑓𝑓 and 𝑓𝑟 are the power fractions for the front and rear portions,
respectively, which satisfy a condition that 𝑓𝑓 +𝑓𝑟 = 2. The heat source parameters for the WAAM
deposition are given in Table 1.

Figure 2 Geometry of the base plate and deposited three-layer wall to be considered in the FEA.

Figure 3 Schematic of double ellipsoidal heat source [4].

Table 1 Heat source parameters for thermal analysis

v (mm/s) 𝑄𝑇 (W) η a (mm) b (mm) 𝑐𝑓 (mm) 𝑐𝑟 (mm) 𝑓𝑓 𝑓𝑟

8.33 2495.4 0.9 2.5 3 2 6 0.6 1.4

For simplicity, identical material properties are adopted for the base plate and deposited wall. The
mild steel properties for the thermal analysis are given in Table 2. The density is assumed to be a
constant and independent of temperature, while the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity
and specific heat is to be considered in the FEA model. An artificially high thermal conductivity is to
be assigned when the temperature is greater than 1500 ℃ (melting point) to capture the enhanced
heat transfer due to weld pool convection.
The initial and environmental temperature is to be set as 20 ℃ and the interlayer time is 400 s. The

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thermal boundary conditions are as shown in Figure 4, in which only half of the base plate and
deposited wall is to be modelled assuming symmetry. It should be noted that an equivalent convection
coefficient on the bottom surface (Figure 4) is used in the FEA to capture the heat loss caused by the
cooling system under the base plate in the experiment (Figure 1). For radiation on the surface, the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant is 5.67×10-8 W/(m2K4) and the absolute zero temperature is −273.15 ℃.

Table 2 Material properties for thermal analysis

Temperature Thermal conductivity Specific heat Density

(°C) (W/m°C) (J/kg°C) (kg/m3)

20 52 480 7860
100 51 507
200 48 532
300 44 574
400 43 624
500 39 703
600 35.6 788
700 32 870
723 28 798
850 26 679
900 26.4 658
1250 30 666
1450 30 666
1500 120 670
2000 120 670

Figure 4 Illustration of boundary conditions for thermal analysis (only half of the base plate and
deposited wall is to be modelled due to symmetry).

The mild steel properties for mechanical analysis are given in Table 3. Young’s modulus,
Poisson’s ratio, initial yield stress, the yield stress at a plastic strain of 0.01 (𝜀𝑝 = 0.01) and thermal
expansion coefficient are provided between the room temperature and the melting temperature. Linear
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interpolation of the provided data is implied for the temperatures at which data are absent.
The modelled component in the FEA is assumed stress-free at the initial state. Consistent with the
thermal analysis, only one half part is considered in the mechanical analysis. The suggested boundary
conditions are shown in Figure 5. In the FEA model, the clamping is to be simplified through fixing
the nodal displacements at the longitudinal edges on the side of the base plate, and a symmetry
condition is to be applied on the mid-width plane to reduce the computational time. The contact
between the bottom of the base plate and the support surface is to be neglected. Different boundary
conditions due to clamping can be tried to examine the effect.

Table 3 Material properties for mechanical analysis

Temperature Young’s Poisson’s Initial Yield Thermal

(°C) modulus ratio yield stress at expansion
(GPa) stress 𝜀𝑝 = 0.01 coefficient
(MPa) (MPa) (°C-1)

20 206 0.29 400 470 1.2×10-5

100 203 390 460
200 201 0.295 362.5 440
300 200 330 400
400 165 0.3 275 330
500 100 220 265
600 60 0.32 147.5 187.5
700 40 60 100
800 30 0.35 55 70
900 20 55 55
1000 10 0.39 55 55 1.5×10-5
1500 10 0.39 55 55 1.5×10-5

Figure 5 Illustration of boundary conditions for mechanical analysis. Note that the contact between
the bottom of the base plate and the support surface is to be neglected, and only half of the base plate
and deposited wall is to be modelled owing to symmetry.
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 You will write a report of the coursework and submit it by the deadline. Your report will be
assessed based on the quality of your work and writing. Your report should contain minimum 3000
words (with a maximum limit of 6000 words excluding references). In your report, you should
• Give an overview of the general approach and applications of FEA modelling, and then
describe the specific purpose, method and procedure of Abaqus FEA of WAAM deposition.
The modelling method, techniques and procedure should be correctly employed and clearly
described for the problem to be solved in this coursework. (30% marks)
• Present and analyse the temperature, displacement, strain and stress results for the three-layer
WAAM deposited wall. The results should be clearly presented and described, along with
data analyses to demonstrate a good understanding. (30% marks)
• Discuss the errors in the FEA model for the WAAM deposition and the strategy to improve
the model accuracy based on the theoretical knowledge and practical guidance learnt from
this course module. The mesh density and clamping locations of the WAAM model should be
varied to examine the differences in the computational time and results. The discussion should
demonstrate a correct interpretation and a critical assessment of the results. Furthermore, you
should use the WAAM deposition model as an example to discuss the limitation of the FEA
method for modelling metal additive manufacturing problems. (30% marks)
• Your report should have a clear and logic structure to present your work and it should be
written in good English and with proper references. (10% marks)

References
[1] Y. Li, C. Su, J. Zhu, Comprehensive review of wire arc additive manufacturing: Hardware
system, physical process, monitoring, property characterization, application and future
prospects, Results Eng. 13 (2022) 100330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2021.100330.
[2] J. Ding, Thermo-mechanical analysis of wire and arc additive manufacturing process, PhD
Thesis, Cranfield University, 2012.
[3] J. Ding, P. Colegrove, J. Mehnen, S. Ganguly, P.M.S. Almeida, F. Wang, S. Williams,
Thermo-mechanical analysis of Wire and Arc Additive Layer Manufacturing process on
large multi-layer parts, Comput. Mater. Sci. 50 (2011) 3315–3322.
[4] J. Goldak, A. Chakravarti, M. Bibby, A new finite element model for welding heat sources,
Metall. Trans. B. 15 (1984) 299–305.
[5] H.L. Wei, T. Mukherjee, W. Zhang, J.S. Zuback, G.L. Knapp, A. De, T. DebRoy,
Mechanistic models for additive manufacturing of metallic components, Prog. Mater. Sci.
116 (2020) 100703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100703.

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