Effect of arc distance on temperature field and weld shape during double-sided arc welding

A new high efficiency welding method, double-sided double arc welding with double powers (DSAW-D), is developed for thick plate of low alloy high strength steel in this study. It is well known that the thermal cycles have an important influence on the microstructure, shape, stress, distortion and mechanical property. The DSAW-D method can control the temperature field on a wide range by regulating the distance between two arcs, improve the microstructure and prevent hot and cold cracking of high strength steel. But at present, the effect of arc distance on the temperature field and shape is not clear. Therefore, the paper researches the effect of arc distance on the temperature field and weld pool during DSAW-D using finite element method. The transient temperature field of different arc distance in DSAW-D is calculated. To verify the numerical results, the temperature is measured by the thermo-couple and the calculated results agree approximately with experimental data. Farther, the thermal property and mutual effect of double-sided arcs are investigated. The temperature distributions and weld pool profile at different arc distances are obtained. The results show that arc distance is a very important factor to affect the heat process.