Comparison of ALE finite element method and adaptive smoothed finite element method for the numerical simulation of friction stir welding

In this paper, the material flow around the pin during friction stir welding (FSW) is simulated using a 2D plane strain model. A pin rotates without translation in a disc with elasto-viscoplastic material properties and the outer boundary of the disc is clamped. Two numerical methods are used to solve this problem and an analytical solution is derived. The analytical model is complementary to validate the two numerical methods, i.e. the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method and the adaptive smoothed finite elements method (ASFEM).