Numerical analysis of thermal fluid transportation during electron beam welding of 2219 aluminum alloy plate and experimental validation

A three-dimensional mathematical model using volume-of-fluid method is developed to investigate the heat transfer, fluid flow and keyhole dynamics during electron beam welding of 2219 aluminum alloy plate. In the model, an adaptive heat source is employed to simulate the heating process of electron beam. Fluid flow is mainly driven by surface tension, thermo-capillary force, recoil pressure, hydrostatic pressure and thermal buoyancy. The thermal-fluid transport behaviors of welding pool during the drilling and backfilling stages of keyhole and the formation reason of the nail-shaped weld with an arc crater are systematically analyzed. Finally, all calculation results are validated by experiments and show good agreements.