Numerical Study of Shunting Effect in Three-steel Sheets Resistance Spot Welding

The main purpose of the present research is to investigate the shunting phenomenon in a three-sheet RSW joint usingfinite element simulation. To this end, a three-sheet resistance spot weldingjoint was simulatedas an electrical-thermal-mechanical couplingproblem.Tovalidate the presentedsimulation, the finite element results were compared with the experimental results, including nugget size and geometric shapein theresistance spot weldingjoint.Afterwards, the multi-spot welds of three-sheet low carbon steels with the same thicknesses were analyzed considering the sequential distance of 45 mm. Various techniques, includingnewspot-welddiametermeasurement, electrical current density, electrical contact conductivity, andelectrode displacement, were usedto study shuntingeffects in theprocess of consecutive spot welds. The results obtained from different methods have greatly matched each other. Also, finite element results indicatedthat the assumptionof neglectingthe sheet deformation effect for low intervals between consecutive spot welds is acceptable. However, it is necessary toconsidersheet deformation for distance intervals more than 45 mm. © 2022 Materials and Energy Research Center. All rights reserved.