The basis for performing a thermo-mechanical staggered coupled heat source analysis of a welding simulation is implemented into LS-DYNA. In this report, three methods for initiating the heat source’s mechanical motion during girth and tubular joint welding are developed and evaluated. The first method is a reformulation of the equations used at Det Norske Veritas, the second is an incorporation of the equations into excel and the third is a standalone third party software. The most efficient of the developed methods turned out to be the software which creates k-files which are implemented into the main k-file using LS-PrePost. All methods have been visually and numerically evaluated using Excel, LS-DYNA and LS-PrePost.

The numerical simulation of a moving heat source from a fixed point observer is often done by discretely adjusting its position over the steps of a thermal transient analysis. The efficiency of these simulations is increased when using a coarse temporal discretization whilst maintaining the quality of results. One systematic error source is the rare update of a nonconstant moving heat source with regard to its magnitude and location. In this work, we present an analysis of the error and propose a correction approach based on conserving the specified heat from a continuous motion in analyses with large time-step sizes. Deficiencies associated with the correction in special motion situations are identified by means of performance studies and the approach is extended accordingly. The advantages of applying the proposed correction are demonstrated through examples.