International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 78 (2001) 523538

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Analysis of residual stresses and distortions in T-joint llet welds

Tso-Liang Teng a,*, Chin-Ping Fung b, Peng-Hsiang Chang b, Wei-Chun Yang c
a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Da-Yeh University, 112, Shan-Jiau Rd., Da-Tsuen, Changhua 515, Taiwan, ROC b Institute of System Engineering, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, Ta-Shi, Tao-Yuan 335, Taiwan, ROC c Ordnance Readiness Development Center, Nantou, Taiwan, ROC Received 5 December 2000; revised 1 August 2001; accepted 7 August 2001

Abstract T-joint llet welds are extensively used in ship engineering and bridge structures. Localized heating from the welding process and subsequent rapid cooling induce tensile residual stress near the toe of the T-joint in llet welds. Welding produces thermal stresses that cause structural distortions, which inuence the buckling strength of the welded structures. This study describes the thermal elasto-plastic analysis using nite element techniques to analyse the thermomechanical behaviour and evaluate the residual stresses and angular distortions of the T-joint in llet welds. Furthermore, this work employs the technique of element birth and death to simulate the weld ller variation with time in T-joint llet welds. Also discussed are the effects of ange thickness, welding penetration depth, and restraint condition of welding on the residual stresses and distortions. q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: T-joint llet weld; Residual stresses; Angular distortions

1. Introduction Metallurgical joints made by welding are extensively used in the fabrication industry, including ships, offshore structures, steel bridges and pressure vessels. Among the merits of such welded structures are high joint efciency, water and air tightness, and low fabrication cost. The types of welded joint can be classied into ve basic categories: butt, llet, corner, lap and edge. T-joint llet welds are widely employed in ships, bridge structures and supporting frames for pressure vessels and piping. Due to localized heating by the welding process and subsequent rapid cooling, residual stresses and distortions can occur near the T-joint. High residual stresses in regions near the weld may promote brittle fracture, fatigue, or stress corrosion cracking. Meanwhile, distortion in the base plate may reduce the buckling strength of structural members. To accurately evaluate Tjoint llet welds, predicting welding residual stresses and

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1886-3-389-2131; fax: 1886-3-389-2131. E-mail address: g910404@ccit.edu.tw (T.-L. Teng).

distortion in relation to considerations of design and safety is a relevant task. For the prediction of the residual stresses and distortions attributed to welding, previous investigations have developed several experimental methods, including stressrelaxation [1], X-ray diffraction [2,3], ultrasonic [4] and cracking [5]. In these methods the stresses are determined by experimental methods. With the development of computer techniques, the nite element method for analysing thermomechanical behaviour in welded structures has been further enhanced. For an analysis of T-joint llet welds, Sasayama et al. [6] used the experimental method to determine the relation between longitudinal shrinkage deformation and welding parameters on long T-joint llet welds. This work also presented a formula describing the deformation process. Meanwhile, Guyot [7] discussed the effect of transverse shrinkage on different types of llet welds and deduced the shrinkage formula. Furthermore, Kumose et al. [8] developed an experimental method to measure angular distortions in single pass T-joint llet welds with different welding parameters. Their investigation also considered ways to improve angular distortion. Nagaraja [9] examined how the T-joint llet welds can be treated as

0308-0161/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0308-016 1(01)00074-6

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Nomenclature

r C T t {q} Q h hf TB TA {Te } {Ds e } {Dep } {De } {Dp } {Ue } B {DT} {Cth} {DTe } M sz sX

density specic heat temperature time heat ux the rate of internal heat generation unit outward normal vector lm coefcient bulk temperature of the adjacent uid temperature at the surface of the model nodal temperature vector nodal stress increment matrix {De } 1 {Dp } elastic stiffness matrix plastic stiffness matrix nodal displacement vector strain-displacement matrix temperature increment matrix thermal stiffness matrix nodal temperature increment matrix temperature shape function longitudinal residual stress transverse residual stress

predicting thermomechanical behaviour. This investigation performs thermal elasto-plastic analysis using nite element techniques to analyse the thermomechanical behaviour and evaluate the residual stresses and angular distortions of the T-joint in llet welds. Additionally, it also considers the effects of ange thickness, welding penetration depth, and restraint condition on residual stresses and distortions. Information on how to improve the fabrication process of welded structures is also presented. 2. Analysis model 2.1. Thermo-mechanical model Welding residual stress distributions are calculated by a nite element method. Fig. 1 presents the analysis procedures. 2.1.1. Thermal model In the thermal analysis, a total of 160 load steps increasing from 0.001 to 10 s were required to complete the heating cycle. Only 30 load increments were typically required for the weldment to return to its initial (room) temperature. The time increments were automatically optimised for each time step by the computer program. The modied NewtonRaphson method was used in each time step for the heat balance iteration. This study simulates the weld thermal cycles for SAE 1020 steel shown in Fig. 2. The convective heat transfer coefcients on the surfaces were estimated (using engineering formulae for natural convection) to be 15 W m 2K 21. 2.1.2. Mechanical model In the mechanical analysis, the temperature history obtained from the thermal analysis was input as a thermal loading into the structural model. The thermal strains and stresses can be calculated at each time increment. Also, the nal state of residual stresses will be accumulated by the thermal strains and stresses. During each weld pass, thermal stresses are calculated from the temperature distributions determined by the thermal model. The residual stresses from each temperature increment are added to the nodal point location to determine the updated behaviour of the model before the next temperature increment. The material was assumed to follow the von Mises yield criterion and the associated ow rules. Phase transformation effects were not considered in the current analysis due to lack of material information, especially at high temperatures, such as the near-melting state. 2.2. Element birth and death The model in this study adopts the technique of

a pattern that was combined by a welding pass at the middle and edge of a butt-welded plate. Michaleris and DeBiccari [10] designed a computational model to estimate buckling and deformation on large and complex Tjoint llet welds. Meanwhile, Arnold [11] estimated residual stresses in multipass llet welds using the nite element code PAFEC. Furthermore, Finch and Burdekin [12] discussed the effects of residual stresses on different kinds of T-joint llet weld defects using the nite element code ABAQUS. Finally, Ueda and Ma et al. [13] developed elastoplastic nite-element computer programs to improve the accuracy of two-dimensional symmetric nite-element models and help them approach three-dimensional models on T-joint llet welds. Their investigation also discussed the effect of T-joint weld size, and welding parameters on the weld residual stresses. Residual stresses and distortions are unavoidable in welding, and the effects of these stresses and distortions on welded structures cannot be disregarded. Determining residual stresses and distortions is thus an important problem. However, accurate prediction of residual stresses and distortions induced by the welding process is extremely difcult because the thermal and mechanical behaviour in welding include local high temperature, temperature dependence of material properties, and a moving heat source. Finite element simulation of the welding process is highly effective in

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Fig. 1. Flow diagram of the analysis procedure.

element `birth and death' to simulate the weld ller variation with time in T-joint llet welds. All elements must be created, including those weld llers to be `born' in later stages of the analysis. The method proposed does not remove elements to achieve the `element death' effect. Instead, the method deactivates them by multiplying their stiffness by a severe reduction factor. Although zeroed out of the load vector, element loads associated with deactivated elements still appear in element-load lists. Similarly, mass, damping, specic heat, and other such effects are set to zero for deactivated elements. The mass and energy of deactivated elements are excluded from the summations of the

model. An element's strain is also set to zero as soon as that element is `killed'. Similarly, when elements are born, they are not actually added to the model, but are simply reactivated. When an element is reactivated, its stiffness, mass, element loads, etc. return to their full original values. Thermal strains are computed for newly activated elements according to the current load step temperature.

2.3. Verication The proposed method was compared with nite

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Fig. 2. Simulated weld thermal cycles for SAE 1020 steel.

element and experimental results taken from Ma et al. [13] and Shim et al. [14] to conrm its accuracy. Ma et al.'s investigation computed the residual stress in Tjoint llet welds using thermal elastic plastic threedimensional FEM and generalized plane strain FEM. Fig. 3 portrays the residual stress distributions across

the width of the ange. The solid lines and broken lines in Fig. 3 represent the residual stress computed by Ma et al. and this work, respectively. According to Fig. 3, the residual stress distributions computed by the method proposed here show very good agreement with those determined by three-dimensional FEM.

Fig. 3. Residual stress computed by Ma et al.'s three-dimensional FEM and present method.

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Fig. 4. Geometry of multipass butt weld.

For Shim et al.'s investigation, a specimen was constructed using multi-pass butt welding, with a length, width and thickness of L 1000 mm; W 400 mm; t 25:4 mm; respectively, as shown in Fig. 4. The welding used the submerged arc technique. Pass sequences and welding parameters are shown in Table 1. Figs. 5 and 6 portray the distribution of the transverse and longitudinal >residual stress on the thick plate computed by Shim et al. and the present method. Shim et al. [14]

presented experimental results for the problem. Additionally, the ABAQUS nite element package is applied as a comparison. As Fig. 5 indicate, the ABAQUS package result showed slightly lower tensile transverse stress near the weld centreline. The present method tends to the experimental results near the surface. As Fig. 6 indicate, both analysis results show tensile stress near the weld centreline. The residual stress calculated using the present method

Table 1 Schematics of pass sequences along with welding parameters for each pass Pass no. (111) 1 25 6 79 1011 Voltage (V) 25 26 25 26 27 Current (A) 190 215 190 220 250 Speed (mm sec 21) 3.34 4.70 3.37 4.70 4.70

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Fig. 5. Transverse residual stress at the top surface of plate.

Fig. 6. Longitudinal residual stress at the top surface of plate.

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Fig. 7. Geometry of T-joint llet welds.

correlates well with that determined using Ma et al.'s three-dimensional FEM and that found in Shim et al.'s experiments. Therefore, the procedure proposed here is considered appropriate for analysing residual stresses and distortions due to welding. 3. Analysis of T-joint llet weld 3.1. Specimen and material properties Fig. 7 depicts two plate llet weld. The length of the llet weld, the width of the ange and height of the web are assumed to be 500, 200 and 100 mm, respectively. The plate thickness is 16 mm for the ange and 12 mm for the web. The plate material is SAE 1020, and the mechanical properties are dependent on the temperature history, as Fig. 8 illustrates. 3.2. Welding conditions The welding parameters chosen for this analysis were as follows: welding method, single pass gas tungsten-arc welding; welding current, I 260 A; welding voltage, V 20 V; and welding speed, v 5 mm sec21 . For practical welds, the heat sources are applied along the weld path. However, this investigation simulates the increment of heat loading on the welding process via the lead temperature curve as shown in Fig. 2. 3.3. Finite element model for T-joint llet welds In the T-joint llet weld, the welds on both sides

of the webs are assumed to be simultaneously welded under the same welding conditions. Therefore, the T-joint llet weld can be considered to be symmetrical with the YZ plane. his work develops a twodimensional symmetrical generalized plane strain model to calculate the residual stresses of the T-joint llet weld using the nite element method. With the aid of this generalized plane strain condition, the threedimensional residual stress components distributed in the transverse section can be computed by thermal elasto-plastic analysis using nite element techniques with unit thickness. The model employs twodimensional four node plane elements, including the nite element meshes for the llet weld, along with rened meshes used in the weld area. The symmetric model has 439 elements and 514 nodes as shown in Fig. 9. 3.4. Mesh sensitivity study To examine the adequacy of element sizes, the effect of mesh renement in the weld area was studied. A new model with rened meshes consists of 507 elements and 585 nodes. Results from two mesh densities with the same material model and geometry showed little difference. Therefore, the original FEM model without mesh renement in the weld joint is used for this study. 3.5. Analysis procedure During each weld pass, thermal stresses are calculated from the temperature distributions determined by the thermal model. The residual stresses

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Fig. 8. The mechanical properties of T-joint llet weld.

from each temperature increment are added to the nodal point location to determine the updated behaviour of the model before the next temperature increment.

4. Results and discussion 4.1. Transverse residual stresses A stress acting normal to the direction of the weld bead is known as a transverse residual stress, denoted s x . Fig. 10 represents the distributions of the residual stress s x along the X direction. A very large tensile residual stress is produced at the surface of the base

plates near the llet weld toes. The value of the residual stress near the weld toes is 25 MPa and decreases to zero as the distance from the weld toes increases. Owing to the locally concentrated heat source, the temperature near the weld bead and heat-affected zone rapidly changes with distance from the heat source, i.e. the highest temperature is limited to the domain of the heat source, from which lower temperature zones fan out. According to Fig. 10 the temperature nonuniformity varies the shrinkage through the weldment thickness during cool-down and, consequently a high tensile residual stress occurs on the surface of the weld toes. 4.2. Longitudinal residual stresses A stress acting parallel to the direction of the

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weld bead is termed a longitudinal residual stress, denoted s z . Fig. 11 depicts the distributions of the residual stress s z along the X-direction. The longitudinal residual stress develops from longitudinal expansion and contraction during the welding sequence. Along the weld line, a high tensile residual stress arises near the weld toes, and then decreases to zero, nally becoming compressive as distance from the weld line on the ange increases. The residual stress value is 110 MPa, approaching the yield stress of the material. Due to the self-equilibrium of the weldment, tensile and compressive residual stress exists at the weld toes and away from the welding line on the ange. 4.3. Angular distortion For the angular distortion of a T-joint llet weld, the angular change Du of the ange for T-type joints is expressed by Du a=b (for small angular change), where b is the half length of the ange and a is the displacement of the Y direction along the ange edge. This equation describes the angular change of the ange for the T-joint llet weld illustrated in Fig. 12. In T-type llet welding, Fig. 13 represents

Fig. 9. Finite element meshes for the T-joint llet welds of 439 elements.

Fig. 10. Transverse residual stress distribution along the X direction.

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Fig. 11. Longitudinal residual stress distribution along the X direction.

the changes of angular distortion (Du ) with cooling time. This gure reveals that the angular distortion downward is about 0.006 rad when the weldment has cooled for 2 s. This is because the thermal expansion

in the upper portion exceeds that in the lower one. Fig. 13 reveals that, after 20 s of weldment cooling, the angular distortion upward is approximately 0.003 rad, and almost does not change. This is because the upwards bend of the ange due to plastic deformation in the upper portion exceeds that in the lower portion. 4.4. Effect of ange thickness Fig. 14 presents the transverse residual stress s x along the X direction for 10, 16 and 22 mm, related to ange thickness. All of the stress distributions indicate tensile stresses near the weld toes, which then decrease to zero as distance from the weld toes increases. Fig. 15 depicts the longitudinal residual stress distributions along the X direction, for 10, 16 and 22 mm, related to ange thickness. All of the stress distributions show tensile stresses near the weld line, that then decrease to become compressive with increasing distance from the weld line. Figs. 14 and 15 reveal that with increasing ange thickness, the residual stress increases. Thus, ange thickness affects the maximum residual stress near the weld toe of the ange in the following two ways: (1) With increasing ange thickness, the temperature nonuniformity varies the thermal expansion and shrinkage during cool-down, and, consequently, the residual stress increases. (2) A thicker

Fig. 12. Angular distortion (Du ) in T-joint llet welds.

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Fig. 13. Angular distortion of T-joint llet weld.

Fig. 14. Transverse residual stress distributions for different ange thickness.

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Fig. 15. Longitudinal residual stress distributions for different ange thickness.

ange strengthens the internal restraint and increases residual stress. 4.5. Effect of welding penetration depth In the welding process, different weldment thicknesses require different weld penetration depths to avoid a non-penetration defect. This research selects elements and controls the heat input to investigate the effect of different weld penetration depths on residual stresses and distortions. All simulation models have the same dimensions and the same weld toe length. As Fig. 16 shows, the weld penetration depth is assumed to be 0 or 6 mm. Figs. 17 and 18 present the distributions for the different welding penetration depth of the residual stresses s x and s z along the X direction. The residualstress for a 6 mm penetration depth llet weld is smaller than that in a 0 mm penetration depth weld. This difference is because the larger penetration depth corresponds to an increase in heat input or a reduction of the welding speed, enlarging the heat affected zone and reducing the temperature variation of the upper and lower surfaces of the ange. Furthermore, the distortion and welding residual stress decrease. 4.6. Effect of restraint conditions In order to reduce T-joint llet weld angular distortion, an external clamp is frequently applied to the ange, as Fig. 19 illustrates. This research

Fig. 16. Different types of penetration depth.

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Fig. 17. Transverse residual stress distribution for different penetration depths.

investigates the effect of restraint conditions and restraint position on angular distortions and residual stresses. Fig. 20 presents the angular distortion of the ange with various restraint positions. The gure

reveals that the angular distortion with restraint is smaller than when the ange is unrestrained. When the applied restraint position is xed at 39.8 mm, this computation provides a minimum angular distortion 0.002 rad.

Fig. 18. Longitudinal residual stress distribution for different penetration depths.

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5. Conclusions This research employs the nite element method to evaluate residual stresses and angular distortions in T-joint llet welds. The technique of element birth and death is used to simulate the weld ller variation with time in T-joint llet welds. Additionally, it discusses the effects of ange thickness, welding penetration depth and restraint condition of welding on residual stresses. Based on the results in this study, we conclude the following: 1. For transverse residual stresses, a high tensile stress is produced near the llet weld toe. As distance from the weld toe increases the stress approaches zero. 2. For longitudinal residual stresses, a very large tensile stress occurs near the weld toe, and a compressive stress appears away from the weld bead. 3. The temperature distribution along the ange thickness causes llet weld angular distortions, which bend the ange up. 4. With increasing ange thickness, the internal restraints are increased and the tensile residual stress near the llet weld toe increases. 5. With increasing penetration depth or heat input in llet welding, the tensile residual stress near the llet weld toe decreases, and can also improve nonpenetration defects. 6. In a restrained llet weld, the tensile residual stress

Fig. 19. Restraint condition in T-joint llet welding.

Figs. 21 and 22 show the distribution of the restrained and unrestrained residual stresses s x , s z along the X direction. The value of the residual stress in the restrained model is smaller than that in the unrestrained model. This difference occurs because when the restraint is removed after welding, the ange is slightly bent by the released restraint force, and this induces compressive stress on the top surface of the ange and tensile stress on the bottom surface of the ange. This new pattern of stress allows the tensile residual stress near the toe to be reduced. This phenomenon means that the restraint used to prevent angular distortion is also effective in reducing the tensile residual stress near the weld toe.

Fig. 20. The angular distortion of the ange with various restraint positions.

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Fig. 21. Transverse residual stress distribution with restraint and in the unrestrained condition.

Fig. 22. Longitudinal residual stress distribution with restraint and in the unrestrained condition.

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T.-L. Teng et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 78 (2001) 523538 [6] Sasayama T, Masubuchi K, Moriguchi S. Longitudinal deformation of long beam due to llet welding. Welding J 1955:5812. [7] Guyot F. A note on the shrinkage and distortion of welded joints. Welding J 1947:51929. [8] Kumose T, Yoshida T, Abbe T, Onoue H. Predicting of angular distortion caused by one-pass llet welding. Welding J 1954:94556. [9] Nagaraja NR, Estuar FR, Tall L. Residual stresses in welded shapes. Welding J 1964:295306. [10] Michaleris P, DeBiccari A. Prediction of welding distortion. Welding J 1997:17281. [11] Arnold J, Robin FD, Goff P. Predicting residual stresses in multi-pass weldments with the nite element methods. Comput Struct 1989;32(2):36578. [12] Finch DM, Burdekin FM. Effect of welding residual stresses on signicance of defects in various types of welded joint. Engng Fract Mech 1992;41(5):72135. [13] Ma NX, Ueda Y, Murakawa H, Madea H. FEM analysis of 3D welding residual stresses and angular distortion in T-type llet welds. Transaction of JWRI 1995;24(2):11522. [14] Shim Y, Feng Z, Lee S, Kim D, Jaeger J, Papritan JC, Tsai CL. Determination of residual stresses in thick- section weldments. Welding J 1992:30512.

and angular distortion near the toe can be reduced after the restraint force is released. When the applied restraint position is changed at the boundary, a minimum angular distortion can be obtained. References
[1] Pang HL, Pukas SR. Residual stress measurements in a Cruciform welded joint using hole drilling and strain gauges. Strain 1989:714. [2] Cheng W, Finnie IA. Method for measurement of axisymmetric axial residual stresses in circumferentially welded thin-walled cylinders. J Engng Mater Technol 1985;107:1815. [3] Chandra U. Determination of residual stress due to Girth-Butt welds in pipes. ASME J Pressure Vessel Technol 1985;107:17884. [4] Chu SL, Peukrt H, Schnider E. Residual stress in a welded steel plate and their measurements using ultrasonic techniques. MRL Bull Res Dev 1987;1(2):4550. [5] Masubuchi K, Martin DC. Investigation of residual stresses by use of hydrogen cracking. Welding J 1961;40:553s63s.