Numerical simulation on residual stresses of stainless steel SS-304 thin welded pipe

Hitesh Arora,Gurinder Singh Brar,Rupinder Singh

doi:10.1177/0020294020917173

Abstract

The major concern in the high tech industries like oil and petroleum industries, automobiles, aeronautical, and nuclear power plants is the control of the defects like distortion in the welded joints and residual stresses occur due to arc welding on the circumferential joints of the thin pipes. Three-dimensional non-linear thermal and thermomechanical numerical simulations are conducted for the tungsten inert gas welding process of SS-304 stainless steel pipes. In this article, numerical analysis of the distribution of the temperature and the welding residual stress fields induced after the welding is done. Study on the effect of the welding heat input by varying the welding parameters (like welding current and welding speed) based on finite element simulations is conduit to examine the results on the residual stresses which is also called as the ‘locked-in’ stresses. The precision of the finite element model is validated for the welding residual stresses. The intention of this study is to provide the information to verify the validity of ongoing process circumferential manufacturing technology for thin-walled pipes, so to avoid the failure of these kinds of structures which are in service because of these intrinsic stresses.

Highlights

Thin welded pipes are generally used in a variety of engineering applications like pressurized piping system, thermal and nuclear power plants, and petroleum industries
The failure of these kinds of structures is due to the decrease in the strength in and in the region of the weld area of the arc welding process, and the main apprehension of the welding industry is residual stresses
To make sure the developed finite element (FE) model is reliable, tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding on the SS-304 pipe having same geometrical parameters and welding parameters as listed in Table 2 from the model was conducted

Summary

Introduction

Thin welded pipes are generally used in a variety of engineering applications like pressurized piping system, thermal and nuclear power plants, and petroleum industries The failure of these kinds of structures is due to the decrease in the strength in and in the region of the weld area of the arc welding process, and the main apprehension of the welding industry is residual stresses. The strain produced always induces the plastic deformation of the metal These strains which result the stresses produce the forces that cause the different types of welding distortion. The reason of the main problems like stress corrosion cracking, damage due to fatigue, and brittle fracture is only the tensile welding residual stresses This is the reason it become necessary to precisely predict and manage residual stresses in arc welding processes.[1]

Methods

Results

Conclusion