Heat Flow during the Autogenous GTA Welding of Pipes

SINDO KOU and Y. LE

A theoretical and experimental study of heat flow during the welding of pipes was carried out. The
theoretical part of the study involves the development of two finite difference computer models: one
for describing steady state, 3-dimensional heat flow during seam welding, the other for describing
unsteady state, 3-dimensional heat flow during girth welding. The experimental part of the study, on
the other hand, includes: measurement of the thermal response of the pipe with a high speed data
acquisition system, determination of the arc efficiency with a calorimeter, and examination of the
fusion boundary of the resultant weld. The experimental results were compared with the calculated
ones, and the agreement was excellent in the case of seam welding and reasonably good in the case
of girth welding. Both the computer models and experiments confirmed that, under a constant heat
input and welding speed, the size of the fusion zone remains unchanged in seam welding but continues
to increase in girth welding of pipes of small diameters. It is expected that the unsteady state model
developed can be used to provide optimum conditions for girth welding, so that uniform weld beads
can be obtained and weld defects such as lack of fusion and sagging can be avoided.

I.

INTRODUCTION

HEATflow during welding is of great interest to welding

engineers and metallurgists. It not only controls the size of
the fusion and heat-affected zones, but also strongly affects
the microstructure and properties of the resultant weld.
Heat flow during the autogenous (i.e., without filler
metal) GTA (i.e., gas tungsten arc) welding of plates has
been studied extensively in recent years. However, far less
work has been conducted on heat flow during the autogenous GTA welding of pipes. No analytical solutions have
been made available. In fact, the only study known to the
authors is the recent one by Grill, 1in which heat flow during
girth welding was calculated using the finite difference
method. A "temperature source" was assigned to each grid
point in the workpiece, and the solution was obtained by
using the alternating direction implicit scheme. No experiments were carried out to verify the calculated results.
In the present study, both steady state, 3-dimensional
heat flow during seam welding and unsteady state, 3dimensional heat flow during girth welding were theoretically calculated and experimentally verified.

SEAM
WELDING
-~ u
Velocity,

Heat
Source
,- rl Weld Fusion
U/Pool / z o n e

(o)
(a)

GIRTH
WELDING

Heat
Source

0/

Angular
LYe I~ Q'

Weld Pool

I/Tt~" -'- z

(0)

(b)
Fig. 1 --Schematic sketches of pipe welding: (a) seam welding; (b) girth
welding.

II.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL

Shown in Figures l(a) and (b) are schematic sketches for

seam and girth welding, respectively. In the former, the pipe
is stationary while the heat source travels in the axial direction of the pipe at a constant speed U. In the latter, the pipe
rotates about its axis at a constant angular velocity lq, while
the heat source remains stationary. As a result of the heat
input, a weld pool is created under the heat source. The weld
pool can be either fully or partially penetrating, depending
on the welding parameter used. Behind the weld pool is the
solidified structure of the fusion zone, i.e., the weld bead.
The cylindrical coordinate system shown in Figure l(a)
travels with the heat source at the same velocity, while that
in Figure l(b) remains stationary with the heat source. In
SINDO KOU and Y. LE are, respectively, Associate Professor and
Graduate Student at the Department of Metallurgical and Mineral Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706.
Manuscript submitted October 24, 1983.
METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONS A

both cases, the origin of the coordinate system is located at

the intersection between the axis of the pipe and that of the
tungsten electrode of the GTA torch.
Due to the combined effects of the electromagnetic force,
the plasma jet force, and the surface tension of the liquid
metal, the convection of the liquid metal in the weld pool
appears to be rather complex in arc welding. No attempts
were made to simulate the weld pool convection. Rather, the
effective thermal conductivity 1'2 was used to account for the
effect of convection on heat flow during welding.
The following integral energy equation was used to
describe the energy balance in a volume element of the
workpiece:
- - - - ~ - a r = jj

fff o(p").
T

(kVT - pHV)dS

[1]

where H is the enthalpy, p the density, t time, k the thermal

VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984--1165

conductivity, and T temperature. ~- and S are the volume

and surface area of the volume element, respectively. V is
the velocity of the workpiece material with respect to the
volume element.

A . S e a m Welding

Except during the initial and the final transients of the

welding process, the temperature distribution in a pipe of
sufficient length is steady with respect to the moving coordinate system. Therefore, the time dependent term in Eq. [1]
equals zero and the process becomes a steady state heat flow
problem. Since the problem is equivalent to one in which the
heat source remains stationary while the pipe travels at a
speed U in the z-direction, the velocity of the material
relative to the volume element is
V = Uz

_._.._....7

B
Fig. 2 - - V o l u m e element for calculation of heat flow.

[2]
3Q exp
q = 7raZ

at

r =R

and

d< a

where z is the unit vector in the z-direction.

From Eqs. [1] and [2], the following finite difference
equation can be derived for the temperature at nodal point P
shown in Figure 2:

iii

Tp = (aeTE + awTw + auTN + asTs + arTr + asTB + b)/at"

In boundary condition (i), To is the initial pipe temperature.

In boundary condition (iii), Q is the power input of the heat
source. It equals ~lEI, where E is the arc voltage, I the
welding current, and 7/the efficiency of the arc, i.e., the
percentage of the arc power (El) absorbed by the pipe. d and
a are the distance from the center of the heat source and the
radius of the heat source, respectively. The Gaussian distribution of the heat source shown in (iii) was first proposed by
Pavelic4 in 1969 and has been used extensively since then.
Experimental studies have indicated that such a distribution
is essentially correct. 5'6 In boundary condition (iv) h is the
heat transfer coefficient, Ta the ambient temperature, o" the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant, e the total emissivity of the
workpiece surface, and R' the radius of inner surface of the
pipe. As in a previous study, 2 it was found that, due to the
low melting point and the high thermal conductivity of aluminum alloys, the surface heat loss due to radiation and
convection during welding is less than 1 pct of the heat
input. Therefore, the surface heat loss was neglected. The
above equations, however, are general and can be applied to
situations where surface heat loss is important.

[3]
where

k,r~AOA z
aE = _

rE-

rp

kwrwA OA z
aw-

re - rw
k, F A O A r

au--

ZN -- Zp
k,7"AOAr
a s --

ze - Zs
k, A r A z

aT

r.( O~ - Oj
kbArAz

as = rt'( Ot" at, =

On)

t" = (re + r w ) / 2

Far ahead of the heat source, the pipe is not affected by

the heat source and, therefore, its temperature remains
unchanged. Far behind the heat source, on the other hand,
the temperature of the workpiece levels off to a steady
value, and OT/Oz approaches zero? The outer surface
(r -- R) of the pipe is subjected to a heat flux q either
due to the heat source or due to the surface heat loss,
depending on its location. In summary, the boundary conditions are as follows:

ii

-[h(T-

r = R

and

Ta) + o ' e ( T 4 -

d > a,

and at

Za4)] at
r =R'

ae + aw + aN + as + ar + aB

1
b = - --f p(HN - Hs) UT"A OA r

iv

T=To

as

OT/Oz = 0

lI66--VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984

z---->-oo
as

z--*

B. Girth Welding

Since the weld bead eventually forms a closed circle on

the pipe, heat continues to build up during girth welding.
Therefore, the heat flow problem is an unsteady state one.
The energy balance equation, Eq. [1], can be integrated
over the time interval from t to t + At as follows:

3,

-~

dtd'; =

(kVT - pHV) " dSdt

[41
The fully implicit scheme was employed in the present
study, which according to Patankar 7 can be expressed below:

'+a'Tdt = T 1At

[5]

METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

where T 1 is the new value of T, i.e., at time t + At.

The velocity of the material relative to the volume element is

where 0 is the unit vector in the 0-direction.

From Eqs. [4] to [6], an equation identical to Eq. [3] can
be obtained for the temperature at nodal point P. However,
all T should be changed to T 1 and the variable b should be
1
b = -~prpfZ(H~ - Hi) A r A z
- p(H~ - l - ~ p ) ~ A r A z A O / A t

where H i and /~p denote the new and old values of lip,
respectively.
The initial condition is T = To at t = 0 for all positions of
the pipe. Since the end surfaces of the pipe are much smaller
than its outer and inner surfaces, and since the temperature
gradients near the end surfaces are very small, heat loss
from the end surfaces is negligible. Therefore, boundary
conditions (i) and (ii) shown previously should now be
at

M E T H O D OF SOLUTION

Eq. [3], boundary conditions (i) to (iv), and the enthalpytemperature relationship 8 were used to solve the temperature
distribution during seam welding. The heat of fusion was
included in the enthalpy-temperature relationship. As observed previously, 2 the effect of the temperature dependence
of the thermal conductivity of solid aluminum on heat flow
was very small and was, therefore, neglected. Since heat
flow is symmetrical with respect to its axial plane, only the
temperature distribution in one-half of the pipe was calculated in the case of seam welding. In order to enhance the
accuracy of calculation, a grid mesh of variable spacing was
used, i.e., finer spacing near the heat source and coarser
far away from it. An example of the grid meshes used is
shown in Figure 3. The successive overrelaxation method
with a relaxation parameter of 1.4 was used. The iterative
procedure of temperature calculation was carried out with a
digital computer until the following convergence criterion
was satisfied:
T~ - T O maximum

1.0 ~

over r, 0, z

In the case of girth welding, Eq. [3] (with b defined in

II-B), the initial and boundary conditions, and the enthalpytemperature relationship were used to calculate the temperature distribution in the pipe. A grid mesh of variable
spacing was also used. Since heat flow is symmetrical with
respect to the central plane, i.e., the r-O plane passing
through the centerline of the heat source, only the temperature distribution on one side of the central plane was
calculated. The successive over relaxation method with a
relaxation parameter of 1.4 was used at any time step n until

METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

-< 1 pct

~,QAt

Comparing with the previous convergence criterion, this

convergence criterion is equivalent to a maximum temperature change of 10-2 to 10 -3 ~ Since the heat flow
problem is now an unsteady state one, a convergence criterion tighter than the previous one is necessary for assuring
the accuracy of the calculated results.
Instead of treating the heat input Q as a step function,
it was assumed that Q increases from zero to its steady
state value Qs in a short time, say 0.1 second. This helped
avoid divergence at the initial stage of calculation. This is
shown in Figure 4. The values of At chosen for the calculation of heat flow during the rising period, the steady state
period, and the power-off period were 0.025, 0.25, and
0.5 second, respectively.

z = +-L/2

where L is the length of the pipe. Boundary conditions (iii)

and (iv), however, are still valid.

III.

E e ( n ' - n o)

[6]

V = -flrO

OT/Oz = 0

the change in the total enthalpy content of the pipe becomes

smaller than or equal to 1 pct of the total heat input up to that
time step, i.e.,

IV.

EXPERIMENTAL

PROCEDURE

The composition of 6061-T6 aluminum pipes used is

shown in Table I. The length, outer diameter, and wall
thickness of the pipes are 20.3 cm (8 inches), 3.81 cm
(1.5 inches), and 3.2 mm (0.125 inch), respectively. Oxide
films were polished off the surface of the pipe. The polished
surface was then cleansed with acetone just before welding.
The workpiece was thermally insulated from the fixture
to avoid heat sinks during welding. In the case of girth
welding, an MBC welding positioner (model BP-1) with a
maximum rotation speed of 6 rpm was employed.
The power source was a Cybertig-300 D.C. programmable machine. Direct current, straight polarity GTA
welding was used to produce autogeneous GTA welds. All
welds were made using argon shielding gas and a 2.4 mm
(0.09375 inch) tungsten-2 pct thoria electrode with a 50 deg
included angle. A Cyclomatic AVC 2 automatic arc voltage
controller was used, and the arc voltage was kept within
+--0.1 volt of the predetermined value during welding. This
allowed the precise control of the heat input during welding.
It should be pointed out that D.C. straight polarity welding of aluminum has recently been employed in situations
where deeper weld penetration is desired, 1~
though
A.C. welding of aluminum is no doubt more popular due to
its surface cleaning ability. D.C. welding was chosen in the
present study since the Cybertig-300 machine available is a
D.C. type power source. This, however, does not imply that
A.C. welds are expected to be equivalent to D.C. welds or
to be reproduced by D.C. welding procedures.

Table I. Nominal Composition and Physical

Properties of 6061 Aluminum Alloy 9

Element
Wt Pct
TL = 652 ~
Ts = 582 ~

Mg
1.0

Si
0.60

Cu
0.28

Cr
0.20

AI
balance

k = 168 W/m ~ Cp = 1066 J/kg ~

p = 2700 Kg/m 3 AH = 3.95 105 J/kg

VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984--1167

Fig. 3 - - A n example of the grid mesh for calculating heat flow during
seam welding: (a) side view; (b) front view.

Steady

Qs

A high speed data acquisition system, consisting of an

LSI 11 computer, an analog/digital convener, two floppy
disc drives, a graphics terminal, and a printer/plotter, was
employed for thermal rlcasurements during welding. This
data acquisition system al,ows as many as twenty thermocouples to be used simultaneously. Chromel-alumel thermocouple wires of 0.13 mm (0.005 inch) diameter were used.
The tips of the thermocouples were sealed tightly to the
bottom of 0.5 mm-diameter holes drilled (with a microdrill)
at selected positions in the pipe. After welding the weld
bead was sectioned, polished, and etched with Keller's
etching solution to reveal the fusion boundary.
The Zuiko macrophoto system was employed to photograph the arc, with a No. 5 filter and high contrast films.
By using proper references, such as the diameter of the
tungsten electrode and the inside diameter of the ceramic
cup, the size of the arc was determined. It was found that the
size of the arc so determined was relatively insensitive to
the variations in the amount of exposure.
In order to determine the arc efficiency, the simple calorimeter shown in Figure 5 was used. The aluminum pipe
was thermally insulated to avoid heat sinks. The current and
voltage employed were essentially the same as those in
welding experiments. The temperatures of inlet and outlet
water were recorded continuously, as shown in Figure 6.
The surface of the pipe was covered with insulating materials immediately after the heat source passed by, in order to
minimize the surface heat loss. The following equation was
used to determine the arc efficiency:

CA

C~

,.=,

W JoCp(Tout
o,

,A

0
Fig. 4--Power input
during girth welding.

off

toff
TIME, t
time relationship used for calculating heat flow

vs

II68--VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984

where
W =
Cp =
To,t =
Tin =
t =

--

Tin)dt

= rlElt

[7]

mass flow rate of water

specific heat of water
outlet water temperature
inlet water temperature
welding time
METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONSA

8 0 0 2---

q.OeeE. STOPPER

Calculated

PIPE

WATER,
N
I

I IHEAT
USOURCE

I
T.C. r ( m m ) O(radians)

Observed

I
2

L,

'////////////////////////"

l~C.

17.5
18.0

0.079
0.594

Seam W e l d i n g
LJ

INSULATION

Fig. 5 - - A simple calorimeter for determining the arc efficiency.

2 400
I

IIOA, IOV, 15 IPM

W a t e r f l o w rate = 4 9 5 m l / m i n
W e l d i n g time 23.1 sec

5O
o

Q.

tS
n~ 4 0
l--

I
0

I
I0
Time, Sec

n~
ILl

a.

b.I
I--

I
20

50

Fig. 7 - Comparison between calculated and measured thermal cycles for

the seam weld.

30

20

I
0

I
I00
TIME,

I
200

sec

SEAM WELDING
Front View

--Calculated
- - - Observed

Fig. 6 - - Inlet and outlet water temperatures as a function of welding time.

-20mm

It is worth pointing out that Figure 6 does not imply that

steady conditions were not achieved in seam welding. The
upper curve shown in this figure is the typical response
curve observed by chemical reactor designers in their
stimulus-response experiments. ~3 In the present case, the
stimulus, i.e., the heat input from the arc, lasted for about
23 seconds, while the response, i.e., the change in water
temperature, lasted for more than 100 seconds.

V.

IOmm

I?mm

120mm

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

As discussed previously, 8 many dimensionless variables

are necessary for completely defining heat flow during fusion welding. Consequently, the presentation of general heat
flow information based on dimensionless variables is not
feasible. Therefore, no dimensionless variables will be employed in the following discussion.
(a)

A. Seam Welding
Figure 7 shows the calculated and the measured thermal
cycles for a pipe welded with a voltage of 10 V and a current
of 120 A. The welding speed was 5.50 mm per second
(13 ipm), and the measured radius of the arc was 3 ram.
With an arc efficiency of 78 pct and an effective liquid
conductivity 1.5 times the value of the solid thermal conductivity, very good agreement between the calculated and the
measured thermal cycles was obtained. This arc efficiency
is less than 4 pct off the measured value, thus indicating the
validity of the heat flow calculation.
The calculated isotherms and fusion boundary (TD are
shown in Figure 8. As can be seen, the calculated and the
observed fusion boundaries are in excellent agreement.

METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

SEAM WELDING
Side View

IOmrn

20mm
4000C

(b)
Fig. 8 --Calculated isotherms for the seam weld. The dashed lines indicate
the observed fusion boundary.

VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984--1169

It is worth pointing out that, comparing to D.C. welding,

the arc efficiency is lower and the arc is wider in A.C.
welding. Consequently, A.C. welds are shallower. The
computer model can readily reproduce the difference in
weld geometry between D.C. and A.C. welding by changing the size and efficiency of the arc. This, in fact, has been
demonstrated in our previous work. z

GIRTH WELDING
Front View

Calculated
---

Observed

8 = 0.097

\:L/T,

B. Girth Welding

,,o~

Figure 9 shows the calculated and the measured thermal

cycles for a pipe welded with a voltage of 10 V and a current
of 110 A. The rotation speed was 2.12 rpm. The effective
radius of the arc, the arc efficiency, and the effective conductivity of the liquid pool used in the calculation were
identical to those used previously in the calculation of the
seam weld. As can be seen in Figure 9, the agreement
between the calculated and the measured thermal cycles is
reasonably good.
It is interesting to note that thermocouple 1 showed a
small but positive rise in temperature around 28 seconds
after welding began. This is about the time when the pipe
finished one rotation. Since thermocouple 1 was approaching the heat source, the temperature went up again. The rise
in temperature, however, was interrupted since the power
was shut off subsequently.
The calculated isotherms and fusion boundary are shown
in Figure 10. The dashed lines indicate the observed fusion
boundary. As can be seen, the calculated and the observed
fusion boundaries are in reasonable agreement.
It can be seen from Figure 10 that the fusion zone increased significantly in size as welding proceeded. This is
because heat continued to build up during welding and the
areas yet to be welded were preheated, even though both
the heat input and the rotation speed were kept constant
throughout the entire welding process. At the beginning of
welding, there was no preheating and the weld bead was too
small to have full penetration. However, at the end of welding, there was too much preheating and the weld pool was
so large that it sagged. The sagging of the weld pool apparently caused the observed fusion boundary to deviate from
the calculated one.
I000

i
-....

V
e

J
O0

Calculated
Observed

Girth Welding

TC.

r(mm)

z(mm)

~,

17.5

1.0

.097

I/

/l'

18.0

6.0

,''

2 ,8.o 5.0

A
,,I,

O(radians)

]
I

,,,

2OO

I0

30

20
Time,

40

Sec

Fig. 9 - - C o m p a r i s o n between calculated and measured thermal cycles for

the girth weld.

I170--VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984

8mm

8mm

(a)
Front

View

0 = 0.487

\\

,so.c,

8mm

8mm

(b)
Fig. 10--Calculated isotherms for the girth weld. The dashed lines indicate the observed fusion boundary.

It is, therefore, clear from the above results and discussion that in girth welding, especially pipes of small diameters, the heat input per unit length of weld should be
high at the beginning and reduced continuously as welding
proceeds. In the case of automatic girth welding, the welding current and hence the heat input can be preprogrammed
through the use of a programmable power source. The preprogramming of the welding current, however, has been
done on a trial-and-error basis so far. The unsteady state
model developed in the present study is expected to help
preprogram the power source more effectively, so that sound
girth welds of uniform size can be produced.

VI.

CONCLUSIONS

The conclusions of this study are summarized below.

1. The computer model developed for steady state, 3dimensional heat flow during seam welding agrees very
well with the thermal cycles and fusion boundary observed in aluminum pipes.
2. The computer model developed for unsteady state,
3-dimensional heat flow during girth welding agrees
reasonably well with the thermal cycles and fusion
boundary observed in aluminum pipes.
3. Both the computer models and experiments confirmed
that, under a constant heat input and welding speed,
the size of the fusion zone is uniform in seam welding
but continues to increase in girth welding of pipes of
small diameters. It is expected that the unsteady state
model developed can be used to preprogram the power
source, so that sound girth welds of uniform size can
be produced.

METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS A

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this study

from the National Science Foundation, under NSF Grant
No. DMR83-19342. The assistance of D.K. Sun in the
computer work is appreciated.
REFERENCES
1. A. Grill: Int. J. Num. Methods in Engr., 1982, vol. 18, p. 1031.
2. S. Kou and Y. Le: Metall. Trans. A, 1983, vol. 14A, p. 2245.
3. D. Rosenthal and R.H. Cameron: Trans. ASME, 1947, vol. 69,,
p. 961.

METALLURGICALTRANSACTIONS A

4. V. Pavelic, L.R. Tanbakuchi, O.A. Uyehara, and P.S. Myers:

Weld. J., 1969, vol. 48, p. 295s.
5. O.H. Nestor: J. of Appl. Phys., 1962, vol. 33, p. 1638.
6. C.B. Shaw, Jr.: Weld. J., 1980, vol. 59, p. 121s.
7. S.V. Patartkar: Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, McGrawHill, New York, NY, 1980, p. 54.
8. S. Kou: Metall. Trans. A, 1982, vol. 13A, p. 363.
9. Aluminum Standards and Data, 5th ed., The Aluminum Association,
New York, NY, 1976, pp. 38 and 40.
10. M. Mizuno and H. Nagaoka: lntn. Met. Reviews, Review 240, 1979,
no. 2, p. 68.
11. E.P. Vilkas: Weld. J., 1966, vol. 45, p. 410.
12. Y. Kuriyama et al.: IHI Eng. Rev., 1976, no. 4, p. 400.
13. O. Levenspiel: Chemical Reaction Engineering, 2nd ed., John Wiley
and Sons, New York, NY, 1972, chapter 9.

VOLUME 15A, JUNE 1984-- 1171