Abstract
Finite element (FE) simulation with inherent deformation is an ideal and practical computational approach for predicting welding stress and distortion in the production of complex aluminum alloy structures. In this study, based on the thermal elasto-plastic analysis, FE models of multi-pass butt welds and T-type fillet welds were investigated to obtain the inherent strain distribution in a 5A06 aluminum alloy cylindrical structure. The angular distortion of the T-type joint was used to investigate the corresponding inherent strain mechanism. Moreover, a custom-designed experimental system was applied to clarify the magnitude of inherent deformation. With the mechanism investigation of welding-induced buckling by FE analysis using inherent deformation, an application for predicting and mitigating the welding buckling in fabrication of complex aluminum alloy structure was developed.
Highlights
Residual stresses and distortions are two of the major concerns in welded structures, especially for aluminum alloy thin-walled structures [1,2]
Since welding processes undergo a high temperature cycle and exhibit material properties that are temperature dependent, the thermal and mechanical properties of the 5A06 aluminum alloy in Table 3 were determined by the Probability Design System (PDS) in the finite element software ANSYS [19]
In the present FEM, three types of inherent deformations, namely longitudinal shrinkage, transverse shrinkage and angular distortion are introduced into the elastic FEM
Summary
Residual stresses and distortions are two of the major concerns in welded structures, especially for aluminum alloy thin-walled structures [1,2]. Few studies have explored the welding multi-physics mechanism in detail despite its high efficiency in calculating the size and distribution of inherent strain with a certain accuracy in the numerical simulation of complex welded structures, especially for fillet joint angular distortion. The prerequisite of this method is that the inherent deformations (i.e., longitudinal shrinkage, transverse shrinkage, angular distortion and longitudinal bending) in each joint should be known beforehand [17].
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