Evaluation by Two-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of the Effect of Number of Weld Layers on the Residual Stress Profile in Stainless Steel Pipe Welds

Abstract

Abstract Tensile residual stresses associated with stainless steel pipe welds can promote in-service cracking and influence the need for inspections. Previous research via finite element analysis (FEA) [1] and experimental characterization [2] has shown that welds in thick wall pipe can produce compressive residual stresses at the inner diameter (ID) surface. However, research that has evaluated the relationship between the number of weld layers, stemming from different weld bead sizes, and the resulting pipe residual stress profiles is limited. This investigation used two-dimensional (2D) FEA to evaluate the influence of the number of weld layers (resulting from different weld bead sizes) on the ID surface and through-wall residual stress profiles for varying stainless steel pipe radii, thicknesses, and weld joint geometries. The findings herein are compared to previous experimental results [2]. The results demonstrated that for the larger pipe sizes and the welding conditions investigated, increasing the number of weld layers (reducing individual weld bead sizes) reduced the ID surface tensile axial residual stresses. In the larger pipe sizes, the magnitude of the tensile residual stresses extending through (into) the pipe wall is also reduced with an increased number of weld layers. The FEA results show that the weld joint geometry may not affect the residual stress profiles as strongly as do the number of weld layers, based on the similarities in the tensile stress values for the joint geometries that were evaluated.