A FIXED GRID NUMERICAL METHODOLOGY FOR PHASE-CHANGE PROBLEMS INVOLVING A MOVING HEAT-SOURCE

A source of heat (arc) moves laterally over the surface of a plate to be welded. Due to intense heating, the material under the arc melts and, as the arc moves away, the material resolidifies resulting in a welded joint. A fixed grid numerical methodology is presented for solving phase change problems involving a moving heat source. The paper emphasizes only the methodology. This note deals with a steady state problem only; thus the arc and the melt under it are fixed in space while material enters and leaves the computational domain.