Rapid analysis method for process parameter determination of transient thermal tensioning during welding buckling distortion mitigation

Abstract

The effect of transient thermal tensioning (TTT) on mitigating buckling distortion is significantly influenced by the process parameters. TTT and conventional welding (CW) experiments were both performed on butt welded joints using induction heating as an additional heat source. The thermal elastic plastic (TEP) FE simulation was then carried out with consideration of material nonlinearity and geometrical nonlinearity to investigate the temperature, buckling distortion fields of the butt welded joints. A good agreement between computational results and the measurement was represented, and the buckling distortion of the butt welded joints with TTT was much smaller than that with CW. Based on the validated FE simulation, the sensitivity of process parameters (amount, sizes, tensioning temperature Ttmax, locations of induction heating) for TTT was examined in detail. The results show that amount and sizes exerted an evident impact on buckling distortion mitigation, which were determined by equipment. Tensioning temperature Ttmax and the offset from weld centerline d1 are more important parameters on effectively mitigating welding buckling distortion of thin plate structures than the offset from welding arc d2. Through optimizing Ttmax and d1, buckling distortion of examined butt welded joint can be reduced by more than 80 %. Moreover, a method for determining the process parameters of TTT towards engineering applications was proposed. Firstly, the amount and sizes of additional heat sources are maximized per the available equipment. Secondly, Ttmax is recommended as yield temperature to implement TTT and d1 is optimized through an experiment or TEP FE simulation. Eventually, the offset from welding arc d2 is further optimized when the manufacturing precisions are not reached.