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The rotary friction welding (RFW) is nowadays an industrial well-established and common welding technique since it allows the combination of a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous materials, for instance, aluminium alloy and steel in order to create a lightweight structure. Therein, the major challenge is, due to the diverging physical properties, to determine suitable and stable parameters for the welding process. In this context, there is a great industrial demand for appropriate simulation tools to capture the relevant physical phenomena within the welding process and thereby to identity the optimal welding parameters. Various holistic models have been constituted to simulate the RFW process. Whereby, the major differences concern the methods of modelling the material and frictional behaviour. In a recent work, a straightforward material model based on a Carreau fluid formulation together with a shear strength confined Coulomb friction model has been adopted. The main motivation of this paper is to validate the capability and the precision of this proposed modelling approach as well as to represent some modelling aspects in a more tangible way. For that purpose the RFW process of a couple of aluminium to steel welded joints with different process parameters were simulated. Subsequently, a validation of the simulated and measured process variables was done concerning the comparison of the flash formation, the final shortening, the transient shortening rate and temperature evolution. • Representation of an approach for modelling the rotary friction welding process. • Detailed derivation of the used finite element model. • Explanation concerning to the friction and contact modelling. • Description of the applied meshing and remeshing procedure. • Comparison of experimental and simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]