简介：Amodelwasdevelopedtosimulatethetemperaturedistributionandnuggetformationduringresistancespotwelding(RSW)ofzinc-coatedsteels.Itemploysacoupledthermal-electrical-mechanicalanalysissimulatingthedynamicRSWprocess.Temperature-dependentthermal-electrical-mechanicalmaterialpropertieswereconsideredincludingcontact-resistance.Thecontactareawasdeterminedfromacoupledthermal-mechanicalanalysis.Alayeroftransitionelementswasusedtorepresentthechangeofcontactareabykillingoractivatingelements.Theheatgenerationandtemperaturefieldwerecomputedinacoupledthermal-electricalmodel.Alltheseanalysesweresolvedusingthecommercialfiniteelementmethod(FEM)basedonANSYScode,andsomeadvancedfunctionswereusedbywritingaparagraphofcodesbytheauthors.Comparedwiththeresultsfromonlycoupledthermal-electricalmodelinwhichcontactareawasuniformduringthewholeprocess,theresultmatchesbettertotheexperimentalresults.