EUROSTEEL 2017, September 13–15, 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark

A reliable modelling of thermal, microstructure, and stress in arc

stud welding joints and effect on fatigue strength

Hadi Soltanzadeh*,a, Jörg Hildebrandb, Matthias Krausa

a
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Chair of Steel and Hybrid Strucutres, Germany
hadi.soltanzadeh@uni-weimar.de, matthias.kraus@uni-weimar.de
b
Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany
joerg.hildebrand@tu-ilmenau.de

ABSTRACT
This paper presents numerical calculations of welding residual stresses and the evolution
of microstructure in stud joints embedded in common structural steels S235 and S355. The study
deals with a numerical transient thermal modelling of stud welding using the commercial
software suite SYSWELD FE. Microstructure phase fraction of Martensite, Bainite and Ferrite-
Pearlite are also calculated by trajectory tracking of the thermal profile on the CCT diagram for
the weld region. Thermal loading from welding as non-moving heat source is further fed into the
stress solver and welding residual stresses are computed. The computational stresses are
validated by comparison with stresses of XRD experimental measurements. The aim of this
paper is to specify the stress distributions regarding residual stresses from the manufacturing and
welding processes as well as stress states due to operational loads, which can constitute the basis
of fatigue analyses.

Keywords: Stud arc welding, Thermal field, Residual stress, Fatigue strength
1 INTRODUCTION
Arc stud welding is widely used for many industrial components as a highly reliable fastening
method, namely in structural steel engineering (headed studs of steel-concrete composite girders) or
ship building [1], for pipes (NS Stud Welding Method), tanks [2], and boiler constructions [3]. Fig.
1 and Table 1 schematically shows and narrates the process forming a stud joint. This process is
applicable to almost any size or configuration of stud welded to a workpiece and it can be applied
quickly with a good weld penetration and reliability.

1 2 3 4 5
Fig. 1. Arc stud welding process with a ceramic ferrule [4]

Table 1. Illustration of steps for arc stud welding process

Step 1 The stud is placed against the workpiece
Step 2 The stud is lifted up while current is flowing, thus creating an arc

Step 3 The arc melts the surface of the stud and workpiece

Step 4 The stud is plunged into the weld pool

Step 5 A cross-sectional joint is achieved

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The most common process of joining a metal stud to a base metal is arc stud welding with ceramic
ferrule. A ceramic ferrule around the end of the stud shields the arc. Finally, when the weld has
cooled down, a small fillet will form around the stud shank, and the ferrule is moved. The periphery
of the stud is surrounded by weld reinforcement. When the stud is subjected to elevated
temperatures, numerous different solid state reactions can take place. The main concern of this
paper is toward providing a numerical model for the calculation of residual stresses, the evolution
of material properties, and the determination of stress states with regard to future services of
studded joints, in order to predict a life estimation regarding the fatigue behaviour.

2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

2.1 Methodology for FE modelling

For the setup of an analytical model regarding the non-moving process and very short time cycle,
the final weld-shape has been used for the simulation and analysis of the manufacturing process as
shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Final shape of the arc stud weld for simulation

The finite element (FE) package inferred by SYSWELD [5] allows the evaluation of the thermal,
metallurgical state and afterwards the determination of the mechanical residual stress state. Five
zones have been modelled: the plate, the plate heat affected zone (HAZ), the stud, the stud HAZ,
and welding zone. Regarding risks of brittle failures and cracks, the HAZ is the most critical region
of the weld in general. Fig. 3 illustrates the algorithm employed in this study regarding the
numerical arc stud welding model which has been applied using SYSWELD.

Fig. 3. The flowchart of the numerical simulation of the arc stud welding

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The extension of the heat source to the thermal field in order to consider all of segments of the
molten zone was a main issue. The transfer or dispersion of the heat source into the model is
performed by means of convection and radiation [6]. The thermal transfer effects which are
different in the prewelding and welding process have been exhibited in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Heat transfer of the simulated model in terms of convection in the prewelding (left) and welding zone (right)

2.2 Thermal field

A computational simulation based on finite elements has been used for solving the calibration
problem of the heat source model. Because the thermal cycle of the arc stud welding is very short,
it’s simulation is essential for the investigation of the material behaviour. With regard to the stud
arc welding simulations it is fundamental to define a precise mathematical description of the heat
source in order to determine the accurate thermal field during welding. This is of big importance for
the prediction of realistic residual stresses. In order to make the prediction more realistic for the
welding residual stresses, calculations are undertaken in two steps during the simulation. The model
is preheated to a temperature up to around at 800°C. The eventual aim of this step is to enable a
creation of residual stresses in the plate and stud. In this examination, preheat is chosen to develop a
ferritic microstructure as depicted in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Preweld process and distribution of ferrite

The second step describes the time of the arc welding process which lasts 0.35 s and eventually
weld metal cools to ambient temperature (2000 s). Process parameter values needed for determining
the whole source power in the context of computing the absorbed power [Equ.1] were measured
during the welding process. Table 2 shows, how these coefficients are considered in the
computation file of SYSWELD generating six circular heat sources. The energy given by this heat
input during the welding time (t=0.35s) is around 11*10³ Joule (with electric current [I]-1050 A,
voltage [V]-30V, and efficiency [η]-100%).
F  QC  H I (1)
where Qc is the source power,
HI is the circle equation; (x²+y²)1/2.

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Table 2. Parameterization of circle model in the weld zone simulation [mm]

FNo.1 = 0 FNo.2 = 0 FNo.3 = 0 FNo.4= 0 FNo.5= 0 FNo.6= 0

dx > 3.71 dx > 3.70 dx > 5.58 dx > 7.44 dx > 6.90 dx > 7.80
dx < 0.00 dx < 3.71 dx < 3.70 dx < 4.80 dx < 4.00 dx < 5.50
dy < -1.10 dy < -0.80 dy < -4.10 dy < -4.40 dy < -1.97 dy < -2.50
dy > 0.50 dy > 0.00 dy > -0.38 dy > -2.00 dy > 0.00 dy > -0.01

The parent materials used for the numerical simulations were S235 and S355 (as an import data in
weldware® software [7]) for the stud and plate, respectively. The chemical compositions of the
materials are given in Table 3. The majority of the mechanical properties are based on the chemical
composition of steels and the microstructure of the alloy because it indicates the required thermal
data, i.e. phase transformation temperatures and critical cooling rate. Many researchers have noted
that the chemical composition and condition of welding materials can directly affect fatigue crack
growth rates of welded joints [8].

Table 3. Chemical compositions [Percent by weight of different alloying]

Segment C% Si% Mn% Cr% Ni% P% Al% S%

Stud (S235) 0.139 0.225 0.526 0.048 0.012 0.016 0.029 0.008

Plate (S355) 0.162 0.282 1.508 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.023 0.002

Welding zone 0.151 0.254 1.017 0.031 0.013 0.015 0.026 0.005

2.2.1 Temperature field and phase transformation

The temperature contours in Fig. 6-a indicate the regions experiencing melting and the zones which
are heat affected. Having computed the transient temperature field, the evolution of microstructure
is of big importance. The microstructure evaluation presented in this report (Fig. 6-b) has been
developed by temperature-time history.

a) b)
Fig. 6. Temperature field in the welding time and cooling down times (a), phase distribution after welding process (b)

2.3 Mechanical field

The boundary conditions applied to the FE model are shown in Fig. 7 taking symmetry into account
(quarter symmetric model).

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Fig. 7. Mechanical boundary condition

The challenge of mitigating welding residual stresses is of great concern during welding. The
residual stresses determined by SYSWELD are compared to experimental measurements obtained
from X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests of SLV Munich [9] for the sake of validation. Fig. 8 represents
the residual stresses of the plate in x direction after the preweld process. Fig. 9 exhibits the
numerical results of the experienced residual stresses in x and z directions of the coordinate system.
The residual stresses in x and z directions calculated at the top side of the plate are compared with
the experimental results in Fig. 10.

Fig. 8. Residual stress (𝜎xx) after the preweld process

Fig. 9. Effect of residual stresses throughout the model 𝜎xx (left) and 𝜎zz (right)

Fig. 10. Comparison of residual stress analyses between numerical and experimental results

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As can be seen, the estimation of weld residual stresses look markedly admissible. Nevertheless, the
accurate prediction of welding residual stresses is very difficult due to the complexity of the
welding process including localized heating, temperature dependency of material properties and
restraint conditions.
2.4 Assessment of weld joint fatigue life
The magnitude of residual stresses present after the welding simulation is important for the
prediction of the fatigue resistance. For that purpose, operational stresses in the weld region due to
external loads have to also be taken into account. Fig. 11 shows four load cases to understand the
response of the stud and plate components. The loading is applied along the stud top surface and the
plate edge for predicting the stress state under static loading.

Fig. 11. Different load case at the stud top surface and plate edge

The distributions of stresses within the welding region and the HAZ are shown in Fig. 12. By
nature, the amount of the total stress strongly depends on the value of the applied load and the
initial residual stress state. Likewise, Fig. 12 shows the interaction of stresses in presence and
absence of the residual stresses at selected nodes in vertical and horizontal paths adjacent to the
welding area. The diagram “without any process” displays the stress state that occurs from the
externally applied force (without any residual stresses). Concerning the diagram “without welding
process”, it describes the preweld’s stress distribution accompanying stress of external loading. The
stress state roughly maintains on the same level of pure loading (without any process). The two
diagrams “after welding process with and without applying force” demonstrate the stresses
distribution including residual stresses after the arc welding process which have previously been
analysed in Fig. 9. The distinction between both cases can be related to the external load.

Fig. 12. Details of the joint region stress distribution under the different load case
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The magnitude of the residual stresses present after welding simulation is important in the
prediction of the fatigue resistance. Residual stress in weldments is one of the major concerns of
manufacturing industries. In order to evaluate the fatigue propagations, it is required to calculate the
stress distribution including residual stress from the manufacturing and welding process and
operational stress in the weld region. The entire stress (welding residual stress and operational
stress) ranges from compressive stresses to larger tensile stresses.
As a general overview on fatigue design, two different concepts can be differentiated in general:
global and local methods [10]. The method known as a global method is the nominal stress method,
which is the most common approach for estimating the fatigue life expectancy.
Fatigue life predictions make use of material specific S-N curves (Wöhler curves) relating an
applied stress or stress range, respectively, to an expected safe number of loading cycles
exemplarily shown in Fig. 13. In other words, the statically determined stress range due to the
external tensile or compressive load are calculated and the corresponding database of fatigue curves
can be used to give the total number of allowable cycles before failure. The stress range S is defined
as difference between the values of the stresses after the welding process and the ones including the
external load which is calculated based on the stress history delivered by the numerical model. It is
of big importance to understand and visualise the stress states for different loading scenarios in
order to identify weak (notch) areas or stress peaks, respectively, which have big influence on the
range of S. With respect to Fig. 13 and the stress distribution in vicinity of the weld toe, a notch
effect can be identified at the marked position for example, strongly influencing the fatigue
strength. Regarding the fatigue failure, small cracks will be initiated at the notch subsequently
growing into regions of lower stress.

Fig. 13. S-N curve for fatigue life of the model retrieved from SLV München

3 CONCLUSION
The complex combination of material, geometry, and loading conditions leads to stress distributions
across the joint that are difficult to predict. Nonlinear residual stresses can be approximated by the
numerical model in a good manner and the possibility of reliable predictions is extremely
promising. Fatigue is a key life limiting failure and assessments are required in order to verify safe
operations, where stresses induced by the arc welding process are superimposed to the stresses
induced by the external loads. The model presented here is a first step in that direction and from the
analyses performed at this juncture, it is ascertained that due to notch effects especially surface
residual stresses have strong impact on the fatigue propagation.

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4 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is supported by Johannes Hübner Stiftung, which is gratefully acknowledged by the
authors.

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