A three-dimensional finite element simulation of welding process is presented. The analysis adopts a de-coupled heat transfer and thermo-mechanical analysis for the determination of residual stress and distortion. Special features for the welding process are developed in the modeling to reduce the computational cost and time of the analysis. A butt-welded aluminum plate was analyzed and the results are compared with experimental data. It is shown that the full three-dimensional model can provide results that cannot be obtained by simplified two-dimensional simulation.
