Investigating the influence of external restraint on welding distortion in thin-plate welded structures by means of numerical simulation technology

Abstract

Welding-induced deformation not only degrades the fabrication accuracy of a welded structure but also decreases the productivity due to correction work. Accurate prediction of welding distortion will be helpful in controlling the dimension accuracy.In this study, the main objective is to clarify the influence of external restraint on welding distortion in three different thin-plate steel welded structures by means of numreical simulation technology. A two-step computational approach was employed to simulate welding distortion in each welded structure. In the first step, the theranal ealstic plastic finite element method (T-E-P FEM) was used to obtain inherent deformation for each typical joint. In the second step, an elastic FEM based on inherent strain theory was used to compute welding deformation for three thin-plate panels with different tihickness and shape. In addition, the effects of external restriant on welding deformation in a thin-plate panel with 5 mm thickness, a thin-plate panel with 10 mm thickness, and an asymmetric curved panel with 10 mm thickness were investigated.