A RESEARCH PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINING THE COMPREHENSIVE RULE-BASE OF AN EXPERT ARC WELDING SYSTEM WITH SENSORY FEEDBACK AND CONTROL ALGORITHMS TO INITIALLY SET AND ADAPTIVELY CONTROL THE WELD PROCESS IN A CHANGING

A RESEARCH PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF COMBINING THE COMPREHENSIVE RULE-BASE OF AN EXPERT ARC WELDING SYSTEM WITH SENSORY FEEDBACK AND CONTROL ALGORITHMS TO INITIALLY SET AND ADAPTIVELY CONTROL THE WELD PROCESS IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT. IT WILL BE THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF ACCOMPLISHING THIS FOR BOTH CONVENTIONAL JOINTS AND NARROW GAP JOINTS WELDED WITH THE GAS TUNGSTEN ARC, GAS METAL ARC, OR SUBMERGED ARC WELDING PROCESSES. A FURTHER OBJECTIVE OF THE OVERALL RESEARCH EFFORT WILL BE TO ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF NOT ONLY ADAPTIVELY CONTROLLING THE WELD PROCESS BUT OF PROVIDING REAL TIME MONITORING AND QUALITY CONTROL AS WELL. THE RESEARCH WILL FURTHER RESULT IN A MORE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE ARC WELD PROCESSES, PARTICULARLY IN THE FORM OF STOCHASTIC AND DYNAMIC MODELS.