FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THERMAL TENSIONING TECHNIQUES MITIGATING WELD BUCKLING DISTORTION

Weld distortion in thin section structures usually is caused by buckli ng due to residual stresses. In addition to conventional techniques, i ncluding reduction of weld size and design modifications, new techniqu es such as thermal tensioning can be used to minimize welding-induced buckling. This paper presents a finite element analysis model of the t hermal tensioning technique. A series of finite element simulations an d corresponding experiments are performed to demonstrate the technique . Thermocouple measurements are performed to verify the transient ther mal analyses and blind hole drilling measurements are used to verify t he predicted residual stresses. Implementing the thermal tensioning co nditions determined by the finite element simulations, the residual st resses of large size and high heat input welds are reduced below the c ritical buckling level.