Research

Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM)

Undergraduate Research Assistant • Apr 2026 – Present

This research focuses on developing a transient thermal finite-element model of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) deposition in ANSYS Mechanical to better understand temperature evolution during the deposition process.

The project combines computational simulation, temperature-dependent material modeling, and experimental thermocouple measurements to improve the accuracy and efficiency of thermal predictions.

• Developed a transient thermal finite-element model of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) deposition in ANSYS Mechanical based on the experimental geometry, material, deposition path, and process conditions
• Generated temperature-dependent ER120S-1 material properties in Thermo-Calc and verified the generated properties against published literature by comparing phase transformations and latent heat
• Optimized material-property curves to improve numerical stability, reducing benchmark simulation runtimes by up to 75% while maintaining thermal prediction accuracy
• Performed rigorous mesh-convergence studies to assess both spatial and temporal convergence
• Developed Python scripts using NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib to clean, process, and visualize more than 7,000 thermocouple measurements, automating data processing for future model calibration