Prediction of Residual Stresses in Welded T- and I-Joints Using Inherent Strains

In order to develop a predicting method of residual stresses in fillet welded T- and I-joints, a concept of inherent strain, being regarded as a source of the residual stresses, was introduced. With the proposed method, the residual stress of an interested weldment may be predicted by performing an elastic analysis, in which the inherent strain is replaced to equivalent distributed loads. The inherent strain distributions in various welded T- and I-joints were investigated by numerical simulations. The results showed that the inherent strains distributing in flange side and in web side of the several joints are almost the same. The inherent strains vary not only with the average temperature rise due to welding, but with the geometric ratio of the joints. Being simplified by a trapezoid curve, the inherent strain distribution in a fillet weld was expressed by formulas, in which heat input, material properties, and geometric dimensions were taken into account. Welding residual stresses in T- and I-joints, predicted by the proposed method employing the derived formulas, were compared with those obtained by thermal elasto-plastic analysis, and good agreement was recognized. The validity of the proposed method was also confirmed by experiments.