Development of Surrogate Models for Predicting Thermal and Mechanical Responses in Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Plates

Development of Surrogate Models for Predicting Thermal and Mechanical Responses in Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Plates | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Development of Surrogate Models for Predicting Thermal and Mechanical Responses in Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Plates Surendra Bhatta, Sayed A Niknam, Haoyu Wang, Ralph Shortt, Dongsheng Li, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7991959/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper presents a computationally efficient framework for modeling Friction Stir Welding (FSW) by integrating thermomechanical Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with data-driven surrogate modeling. We validate an analytical heat-input model against Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) simulations and develop surrogate models for the prediction of thermal and mechanical responses, such as temperature, stress, and distortion. Experimental measurements of thermal history and distortion were conducted. The temperature data are used to validate both the CEL simulations and the analytical heat-input model implemented in an explicit FEA framework, while the distortion measurements are used to validate the stress analysis model under cooling conditions in an unclamped setup. Although CEL captured detailed material flow behavior, the analytical approach provides broader parametric analysis with significantly reduced computational cost. Finite element simulation data with 30 different combinations of transverse speeds (100–500 mm/min) and rotational speeds (500–1750 rpm) are used to train surrogate models with high predictive precision (R2 = 0.99). This provides a reliable tool for optimizing the FSW process. Friction Stir Welding Finite Element Analysis Analytical Heat Generation Surrogate Modeling Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Minor Revisions Needed 17 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Nov, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 03 Nov, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 03 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 30 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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