Cooling rate in 800 to 500°C range from dimensional analysis

Structure and properties of steel welds are affected by their cooling rates in the 800 to 500°C range. The available cooling rate correlations are based mostly on heat conduction equation that ignores convective heat transfer and are inaccurate or empirical in nature and valid only for a limited range of welding conditions. Numerical heat and fluid flow models can accurately calculate cooling rates, but they are not widely available. In the present paper, the authors propose and test a generalised correlation for cooling rate developed through dimensional analysis, valid for a wide range of welding processes, operating parameters and material properties.