The influence of gas jet velocity in laser heating—a moving workpiece case

Abstract

In the present study, gas jet-assisted laser heating of a moving steel substrate with finite thickness is considered. Three-dimensional flow and energy equations with variable properties of the gas are introduced in modelling the heating process. The low Reynolds number k-ε model is employed to account for the turbulence. A numerical scheme using a control volume approach is introduced to discretize the governing equations. The simulation is repeated for three assisting gas jet velocities (100, 10, 1 m/s) and a constant workpiece speed (0.3 m/s). It is found that the effect of assisting gas jet velocity on the surface temperature is more pronounced in the cooling cycle than in the heating cycle of the laser heating process. The workpiece movement affects the location of the maximum temperature at the surface, which moves away from the initially irradiated spot centre in the direction of motion of the workpiece.