Abstract: The anode region of welding arc is divided into three subzones: the anode boundary layer, the presheath and the sheath. A model is established for analyzing the transport mechanisms in the anode boundary layer. The computer program is designed and the governing equations of the dominating processes with the boundary conditions taken from the solutions of LTE plasmas are solved by applying the Runge-Kutta procedure.One parameter θ, the ratio of the heavy particle temperature at the free-fall edge to the anode surface temperature, is introduced into this study. The results indicate that when the parameter θ is of the value 6 the predicted heat flux at the anode surface matches the measured one. Based on the model, various plasma properties in the boundary layer can be obtained. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measurements.

Key words: welding arc, anode boundary layer, transport mechanism