Abstract
An advanced method for the efficient numerical prediction of the shape of the structure produced by thermal spray is presented. This method is based on the combination of a local non-linear thermo-mechanical FEM calculation of the inherent strain distribution after the process of thermal spraying in a representative sample and a global linear FEM calculation of the shape of the whole structure. One of the advantages of this method is the significant reduction of the computation time compared to a traditional transient FEM simulation. An application example shows the results of shape prediction of a large and complex structure generated by thermal spraying. The application of this method to the prediction of the shape of large structures opens the way for the optimization of the thermal spray technology towards the near net shape production process.
