Residual stresses due to gas arc welding of aluminum alloy joints by numerical simulations

This study deals with the numerical simulation of the gas arc welding process of Aluminum tee joints using finite element analysis and evaluation of the effect of welding parameters on residual stress build up. The 3D simulations are performed using ABAQUS code for thermo-mechanical analyses with moving heat source, material deposition, solid-liquid phase transition, temperature dependent material properties, metal elasticity and plasticity, and transient heat transfer. Quasi Newton method is used for the analysis routine and thermo-mechanical coupling is assumed; i.e. the thermal analysis is completed before performing a separate mechanical analysis based on the thermal history. The residual stress build up and temperature history state in a three-dimensional analysis of the tee joint is then compared to experimental results. Hole drilling method is used for measuring the residual stress, while temperature history is measured by thermocouples. After carrying out numerical simulations, the effects of voltage/current, welding speed, material thickness and size of electrode on residual stress build-up and resulting distortions are evaluated.

[1]  John Goldak,et al.  Consistent strain fields in 3D finite element analysis of welds , 1990 .

[2]  S. C. Park,et al.  Weldin g Distortion of a Thin-Plate Panel Structure , 1999 .

[3]  Zhili Feng,et al.  A finite element model for residual stress in repair welds , 1996 .

[4]  J. K. Hong,et al.  Assessment of Numerical Procedures for Residual Stress Analysis of Multipass Welds The effects of heat input magnitudes and prescribed initial temperature conditions for welds on residual stresses are discussed , 1998 .

[5]  B. L. Josefson,et al.  Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of Temperatures and Stresses in a Single-Pass Butt-Welded Pipe , 1990 .

[6]  Lennart Karlsson,et al.  Residual stresses and deformations in a welded thin-walled pipe , 1989 .

[7]  Koichi Masubuchi,et al.  Analysis of Welded Structures: Residual Stresses, Distortion, and their Consequences , 1980 .

[8]  Pingsha Dong,et al.  Analysis of residual stresses in Al-Li alloy repair welds , 1997 .

[9]  F. W. Brust,et al.  Residual stress analysis of a multi-pass girth weld , 1998 .

[10]  Daniel A. Tortorelli,et al.  Minimization of welding residual stress and distortion in large structures , 1999 .

[11]  Edmund F. Rybicki,et al.  The Effect of Pipe Thickness on Residual Stresses due to Girth Welds , 1982 .

[12]  Malcolm Bibby,et al.  Modelling Gas Metal Arc Weld Geometry Using Artificial Neural Network Technology , 1999 .

[13]  S. B. Brown,et al.  Finite Element Simulation of Welding of Large Structures , 1992 .

[14]  John Goldak,et al.  Transformation Plasticity and Residual Stresses in Single-Pass Repair Welds , 1992 .

[15]  E. Keim,et al.  Numerical weld modeling — a method for calculating weld-induced residual stresses , 2001 .

[16]  J. Goldak,et al.  A new finite element model for welding heat sources , 1984 .