Laser beam cutting technology is becoming increasingly popular in various industries. Advantages of this method is a very high cutting speed and a precision of edges of cut elements. Good quality depends on many technological parameters. Numerical prediction of the effect of cutting process parameters on the quality of the surface can be useful for technologists.

The work concerns the numerical analysis of the laser cutting process of sheet made of steel. The influence of selected parameters on the energy efficiency of the heat source and the cutting speed are analyzed. Numerical calculations are performed in Ansys software. Three-dimensional discrete model of the analyzed system is developed. The standard material parameters of austenitic steel changing with the temperature are taken into account. Gauss model describing the distribution of movable heat source of a laser beam power are assumed in the solution algorithms.

The influence of various parameters of the laser beam on obtained temperature field and shape of cut zone is estimated on the basis of numerical calculations. The results are compared with the results of the experiment.