Numerical simulation of mechanical stress relieving in a multi-pass GTA girth welded pipe–flange joint to reduce IGSCC

Abstract

Welding of piping components produces highly non-uniform residual stresses in the weldment which consequently affect material structural response under loading and also expedite origination/propagation of defects such as stress corrosion cracking and brittle fracture. For welding-induced residual stresses, mechanical stress relieving (MSR) is one of the mitigation techniques to improve the service life of pressure vessel components. However, its application to piping systems is rarely reported in the literature. This paper presents a two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model of a pipe–flange joint subjected to a multi-pass girth welding followed by an MSR process. Sequentially coupled non-linear transient thermo-mechanical analysis for multi-pass gas tungsten arc welding is first performed to calculate welding residual stresses. Subsequently separate parametric studies for three different types of MSR load including internal pressure, external pressure and axial pull are performed on the pre-stressed model, and stress relieving behaviour is studied. It is concluded that both the internal pressure and axial pull have a significant effect on residual stresses on the inner surface of the joint.