Abstract
The dynamic and transport mechanisms involved in the arc plasma and the weld pool of arc welding operations are numerous and strongly coupled. They produce a medium the magnitudes of which exhibit rapid time variations and very marked gradients which make any experimental analysis complex in this disrupted environment. In this work, we study the TIG and MIG processes. An experimental platform was developed to allow synchronized measurement of various physical quantities associated with welding (process parameters, temperatures, clamping forces, metal transfer, etc.). Numerical libraries dedicated to applied studies in arc welding are developed. They enable the treatment of a large flow of data (signals, images) with a systematic and global method. The advantages of this approach for the enrichment of numerical simulation and arc process control are shown in different situations. Finally, this experimental approach is used in the context of the chosen application to obtain rich measurements to describe the dynamic behavior of the weld pool in P-GMAW. Dimensional analysis of these experimental measurements allows to identify the predominant mechanisms involved and to determine experimentally the characteristic times associated. This type of approach includes better description of the behavior of a macro-drop of molten metal or the phenomena occurring in the humping instabilities.