Welding is an integral part of many industries. Welding is succesfully used in automotive sector in general and auto body shops in particular. Excellent welds are critical in the automotive field, adding to any vehicle's safety, reliability, and appearance. One of the newest welding technique is hybrid welding involving laser beam and electric arc interacting in a single process. This technique eliminates drawbacks of laser beam or arc processes and allows to obtain better joints in comparison to each process analyzed separately.

This work describes mathematical and numerical models of hybrid laser beam + electric arc heat source power distribution with Yb:YAG laser power and tungsten wolfram electrode taken into considerations used for car frames welding.

Laser energy distribution is measured experimentally using UFF100 beam analyser. Results of experimental research, including beam profile and energetic characteristics of electric arc are used in the numerical model. The model of a laser beam is based on geostatistical kriging interpolation whereas electric arc below the welding torch is modelled using Goldak’s “double-ellipsoidal” distribution. The results of developed models include distributions of heat source power intensity for different technological parameters of the hybrid heat source as well as temperature fields as the results of computer simulations of butt-welding of sheets made of steel.