FLOW-3D WELD allows researchers and manufacturers to optimize processing parameters such as laser power, pulse duration and pulse repetition rate to ensure good quality weld joints, limiting the need for costly physical testing of weld strategies. FLOW-3D WELD gives researchers and manufacturers the ability to analyze the mechanisms that take place at the micro and meso scales which ensure consistency in weld beads. Models developed in FLOW-3D WELD account for all the contributing physics including laser-material interaction, surface tension forces, pressure effects (including recoil pressure), shield gas effects, and temperature dependent material properties.