SMWA: A CAD-based Decision Support System for the Efficient Design of Welding

Abstract

Welding is one of the most widely used permanent joining technologies in assembly. As with other manufacturing processes, manufacturing feasibility and efficiency of weld components should be considered early in the part design stages to avoid costly redesign and delay. While there have been considerable research interests in weldability assessment and predictive modeling of welding distortion, under current practices, only after the part has been designed, welding engineers start working on the welding process plan. One significant reason for the current practice is the complexity involved in the decision and selection of feasible welding parameters. Therefore, there is a great need for a methodology that can incorporate benefits from Concurrent Engineering (CE) concepts into weld design. The objective of this study is to develop such a methodology to avoid welding infeasibility due to lack of manufacturability evaluations at the design stages and to generate a more complete and improved welding design in a shorter time. A CAD-based decision support system, named Sheet Metal Welding Advisor (SMWA), is developed for the purpose. The advantages include: (1) integration of CE concepts in welding design, thus improving the overall efficiency of design and manufacturing practices, (2) automatic generation of optimum welding parameters and associated manufacturing data for economic considerations, and (3) a great potential for the real-world applications.

Keywords

Concurrent Engineering decision support system CAD weld design efficiency Pro/engineer

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Evanczuk, S. (1990). Concurrent Engineering the New Look of Design. High Performance Systems, April, 16-17.

Goldak, J. , Gu, M. and Hughes, E. (1993). Steady State Thermal Analysis of Welds with Filler Metal Addition . Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, 32(1): 49-55 .

Halmoy, E. (1979). Wire Melting Rate, Droplet Temperature, and Effective Anode Melting Potential. Int. Conf. Arc Physics and Weld Pool Behavior, London: The Welding Institute .

Halmoy, E. (1986). Electrode Wire Heating in Terms of Welding Parameters, (Appendix A, The Physics of Welding), 2nd edn, New York: Pergamon, Oxford .

Kwon, Y. and Fischer, G. (2001). Process Optimization for Minimization of Welding Distortion and Modeling/ Simulation of Welding Distortion using a Numerical Analysis. A Proposal Submitted to Deere & Company, Dubuque, IA.

Maddux, K.C. and Jain, S.C. (1986). CAE for the Manufacturing Engineer: The Role of Process Simulation in Concurrent Engineering. In: Tseng, A.A. , Durham, D.R. and Komanduri, R. (eds), Manufacturing Simulation and Processes, NY: ASME .

Maropoulos, P.G. , Yao, Z. , Bradley, H.D. and Paramor, K.Y.G. (2000). An Integrated Design and Planning Environment for Welding, Part 1: Product Modeling . Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 107: 3-8 .

McGlone, J.C. (1982). Weld Bead Geometry Prediction: A Review. Metal Construction.

Michaleris, P. , Tortorelli, D. and Vidal, C. (1995). Analysis and Optimization of Weakly Coupled Thermo-Elasto-Plastic Systems with Applications to Weldment Design . International Journal of Numerical Methods in Engineering, 38: 1259-1285 .

10.

Modern Welding Technology, 1998, available at http://www.welding.com/edu_weld1.shtml.

11.

Montgomery, D.C. (1997). Design and Analysis of Experiments, 4th edn, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

12.

O’Donnell, W.J. and Gomba, K.M. (1992). Design for Manufacturability/Continuous Flow Manufacturing: An Operating Procedure . Design for Manufacturing, ASME, 51: 1-5 .

13.

O’Grady, P. and Young, R.E. (1991). Issues in Concurrent Engineering Systems . Journal of Design and Manufacturing, 1(1): 27-34 .

14.

Park, H. and Cukodky, MR . (1999) Framework for Modeling Dependencies in Collaborative Engineering Process , Research in Engineering - Theory Applications and Concurrent Engineering, 11(2): 84-102 .

15.

Prasad, B. (1996). Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals, I, New Jersey: Prentice Hall .

16.

Prasad, B. , (1997). Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals. II, New Jersey: Prentice Hall .

17.

Prasad, B. (1999). Enabling Principles of Concurrency and Simultaneity in Concurrent Engineering . Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design Analysis and Manufacturing, 13(3): 185-204 .

18.

Priest, J.W. and Sanchez, J.M. (2001). Product Development and Design for Manufacturing, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, NY.

19.

Radaj, D. (1992). Heat Effects of Welding: Temperature Field, Residual Stress, Distortion, New York, NY: Springer .

20.

Shim, Y. , Feng, Z. , Lee, S. , Kim, D.S. , Jaeger, J. , Paparitan, J.C. and Tsai, C.L. (1992). Determination of Residual Stress in Thick Section Weldments: Welding Journal, 71: 305-312 .

21.

Shinoda, T. and Doherty, J.J. (1978) The Relationship between Arc Welding Parameters and Weld Bead Geometry a Literature Survey, Welding Institute Members Report.

22.

Swokowski, E.W. (1983). Calculus with Analytic Geometry, Marquette University, Prindle, Boston, MA: Weber & Schmidt .

23.

Tekriwal, P. and Mazumder, J. (1988). Finite Element Analysis of Three-Dimensional Transient Heat Transfer in GMA Welding . Welding Journal, Research Supplement, 67: 150-156 .

24.

Tekriwal, P. and Mazumder, J. (1991). Transient and Residual Thermal Strain-Stress Analysis of GMAW , Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology, 113: 336-343 .

25.

Tsai, C. , Park, S. and Cheng, W. (1999). Welding Distortion of a Thin-Plate Panel Structure , Welding Journal, Research Supplement, 78: 156-165 .

26.

Ullman, D.G. (1997). The Mechanical Design Process, 2nd edn, Boston: Mcgraw-hill .

27.

Watanabe, Masaki and Satoh Kunihiko (1961). Effects of Welding Conditions on the Shrinkage Distortion in Welded Structures , Welding Journal, 65(2): 377-384 .

28.

(1991). Welding Handbook, 8th edn, Vol. 2, American Welding Society, Englewood, CO.

29.

Wu, T. , Blackhurst, J. and O’Grady, P. (2001). Integrated Enterprise Concurrent Engineering: A Framework and Implementation . International Journal of Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications, 9(3).

30.

Young, R.E. , Greef, A. and O’Grady, P. (1992). An Artificial Intelligence-based Constraint Network System for Concurrent Engineering . International Journal of Production Research, 30(7): 1715-1735 .

31.

Zhang, H.Z. and Altin, L. (1994). Computerized Manufacturing Process Planning Systems. Chapman & Hall, New York, NY.

32.

Zhao, H.Y. , Shi, Q.Y. , Lu, A.L. and Wu, A.P. , (2000). Development and Application of Adaptive Mesh Technique in Three Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Welding Process . ACTA Metallurgica Sinica, 13: 33-39 .