DIGI-STEEL is a start-up and member of the Voortman Steel Group, which is one of the market leaders for steel machinery. With DIGI-STEEL we introduce the first fully cloud-based software solution for steel processors. It is the next generation steel workshop management software guiding our customer’s factories into the smart industry 4.0 era.

What are you going to do?

In steel construction, the quality of welds is highly of importance for ensuring structural integrity, durability, and safety. The welding process, particularly for fillet welds, is pivotal in achieving these objectives. Fillet welds are extensively employed for joining steel components due to their practicality and strength. The focus of this master's thesis assignment is to study the welding process, with a focus on fillet welding, via developing a comprehensive methodology. At first, finite element models are developed for stress analysis of welding paths. By developing experimentally validated finite element models, we will simulate the welding process to calculate temperature gradients, cooling rates, and residual stresses due to thermal shrinkage. Temperature gradient and cooling rate are the main controlling factors for microstructure formation of the welded paths. Understanding the influence of these two parameters is crucial, as specific microstructures are known to contribute to enhanced mechanical properties and overall weld quality in structural engineering.

Finally, welding paths can be optimized, using this model, to be tailored explicitly for welder robots. Therefore, this research aims to address the complexities of fillet welding optimization by integrating numerical simulation, and experimental validation. To achieve these goals, the following research steps are considered.

1. Literature Review: Explore prior research to understand welding path modeling and optimization methods and challenges;
2. Problem Definition and Scope: Define the project's objectives and constraints, specifying the types of welds and steel structures to be considered;
3. Data Collection and Weld Quality Metrics: Gather data on steel materials and welding parameters and establish quantitative measures for weld quality;
4. Numerical Modeling: Develop finite element models to simulate welding processes, analyzing temperature gradients, cooling rates and stresses;
5. Welding Path Optimization Algorithm: Create an algorithm to optimize paths for accessibility and weld quality, considering robot capabilities;
6. Software Integration (if applicable): If relevant, integrate the optimization algorithm into DIGI-STEEL software.