Effects of thermal properties on weld pool geometry predictions and HAZ thermal cycles in SAW simulations of API 5L X80 steel heavy plates
Victor Tomassoni de Paiva Reis, Geovane de Assis Faria, Daynara Faustina Moreira de Oliveira, Geraldo Lúcio de Faria, Rodrigo Rangel Porcaro
Abstract
The effects of thermal properties adopted in numerical simulations of submerged arc welding (SAW) on the prediction of the geometry of the fusion zone (FZ) and the thermal cycles in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) were investigated for thick plates of API 5L X80 steel. Seven test cases were considered, using different approaches for defining thermal properties, including constant values, temperature-dependent properties (based on literature), and artificially increased thermal conductivity above the melting temperature. The simulation results were compared with experimentally obtained macrographs. Thermal properties significantly affected the geometric parameters of the FZ, particularly the fused area and the weld pool length on the surface. The heating rate up to 1300 °C was highly sensitive to the selected thermal properties, whereas the cooling rate in the critical 800–500 °C range showed comparatively limited variation among the cases. Although simplified thermal models exhibited reduced accuracy in predicting FZ geometry, they provided a consistent representation of HAZ thermal cycles while reducing computational time by up to 45%. Therefore, when the primary objective of the numerical simulation is to provide thermal cycles for subsequent physical simulations of the HAZ, the use of simplified thermal properties can be considered a technically sound and computationally efficient strategy.
Keywords
Referências
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Submetido em:
21/10/2025
Aceito em:
01/03/2026
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