TY - JOUR A1 - Artinov, Antoni A1 - Meng, Xiangmeng A1 - Bachmann, Marcel A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Numerical analysis of the partial penetration high power laser beam welding of thick sheets at high process speeds T2 - Metals N2 - The present work is devoted to the numerical analysis of the high-power laser beam welding of thick sheets at different welding speeds. A three-dimensional transient multi-physics numerical model is developed, allowing for the prediction of the keyhole geometry and the final penetration depth. Two ray tracing algorithms are implemented and compared, namely a standard ray tracing approach and an approach using a virtual mesh refinement for a more accurate calculation of the reflection points. Both algorithms are found to provide sufficient accuracy for the prediction of the keyhole depth during laser beam welding with process speeds of up to 1.5 m/min. However, with the standard algorithm, the penetration depth is underestimated by the model for a process speed of 2.5 m/min due to a trapping effect of the laser energy in the top region. In contrast, the virtually refined ray tracing approach results in high accuracy results for process speeds of both 1.5 m/min and 2.5 m/min. A detailed study on the trapping effect is provided, accompanied by a benchmark including a predefined keyhole geometry with typical characteristics for the high-power laser beam welding of thick plates at high process speed, such as deep keyhole, inclined front keyhole wall, and a hump. PB - MDPI CY - Basel KW - High-power laser beam welding KW - High process speeds KW - Deep penetration KW - Numerical modeling KW - Ray tracing PY - 2021 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/53217 AN - OPUS4-53217 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-532170 SN - 2075-4701 VL - 11 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 16 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany