Scan-Wise Adaptive Remeshing for Efficient LPBF Process Simulation: The Thermal Problem

Understanding parts thermal history during the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process is crucial since it can help avoiding manufacturing defects, identifying hotspots, saving time and cost associated with experimental analysis. For the case of LPBF, however, numerical methods are computationally expensive whenever the thermal history of a relatively large part is required. This paper proposes a scan-wise adaptive remeshing framework using tetrahedral elements that can simulate the process efficiently, and better capture complex features than using hexahedral elements. Results from four structures demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed work compared to the layer-wise remeshing and the uniform mesh approach.