Simulation of Friction Stir Welding

This article discusses the fundamentals of friction stir welding (FSW) and presents governing equations and an analytical solution for heat transfer. It provides the solutions for structural distortion in FSW. The article describes various techniques that have been adopted to solve the equations and simulate the FSW process. The techniques include modeling without convective heat transfer and modeling with convective heat transfer in a workpiece. The article concludes with information on active research topics in the simulation of FSW.